Quick Notes 5/2010 – 2/2011
Use this space to comment on random stuff that doesn’t fit with current topics on the Humboldt Herald.
This is the fourth “Quick Notes” page. Archives of past “Quick Notes” appear in the sidebar under Pages.
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My credit card bank has suddenly changed from cold and aloof to super friendly. Has anything like this happened to any of you? It’s like a Jekyll and Hyde thing, only in reverse. Spooky!
Was Mike Thompson one of the members of Congress who jumped to his feet and applauded Mexican President Calderon’s blistering and dishonest attack on the State of Arizona?
Arizona is trying to enforce immigration laws the Federal government has refused to enforce since the 1980’s, and President Calderon hates Arizona for that.
Heraldo? What have you heard about Mike Thompson’s response on the floor of Congress yesterday? There’s nothing on his web site about yesterday’s speech by Calderon , and nothing about the issue of immigration there, either, for that matter!
The opening scenes of the “The Wild One” — the movie that turned Marlon Brando into an American movie icon — resemble a “Bowery Boys” movie.
A resemblance between Marlon Brando and Leo Gorcey?
Does Huntz Hall know about this?
People often chide the Times-Standard but let
NewsChannel 3, “the Spirit of the North Coast”, get off scot-free for its errors.
Tonight’s report on new cancer therapies taught me a new part of the human body, unknown until the newscaster repeated it three or more times tonight at 6 p.m. The new human body part: “Lymph Noides.”
I kid you not!
The Forster-Gill EIR has been released…
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15149826
I’m sure a couple thousand additional drivers won’t cause ANY traffic problems in Cutten and Ridgewood. Yup, our planning department sure does love those suburban cul-de-sac subdivisions.
Jeff Ragan, improper comments for planner? He is calling for anti dispensary people to turn out! WTF?
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1660882/marijuana-co-ops-and-distribution-centers-in-eureka-ca-
In other words, if we the city planners didn’t get the kind of input we want to justify our own prejudices, we’ll see if we can’t round some up for next time around. Once we get the “public input” that justifies what we the planners think is right, then we’ll be happy to side with that “public.”
Once again, the staff tail tries to wag the government dog. Business as usual.
Dude, you haven’t even read the EIR.
On Foster-Gill?
What exactly are you disputing? That it would be a massive suburban subdivision? It would. That there would be thousands of additional cars on Walnut and Elk River Rd? There would.
Want or not, Eureka has more underground marijuana distribution centers than liquor stores, bars, cigar stores, head shops, and coffee shops combined.
Eureka has allowed 0 and received two hundred. Put your heads together and figure out some number in between.
Do you think there will be a push by the current city council to name a successor for David Tyson before the council election? Are they afraid of losing their 3-2 majority this go round and want to put in place a friendly CM before it is too late? Just askin’. And if they try it how will Glass and Atkins stop it?
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Over at Fred’s Place, not to be confused with Archie’s Place, Fred has decided he agrees with Rand Paul about keeping darkies out of white-owned businesses. He didn’t put it in those exact words, but at the end of the day the bottom line is the same.
Direct action training is coming to the Redwood Curtain!
A gathering focused on defending our State Park from the Caltrans R.I.P.(Richardson grove “Improvement” Project) is set to begin May 28th-30th.
More info at saverichardsongrove.blogspot.com
Plutonic, thanks for that interesting excerpt from a Planning Commmissioner soliciting comments against a project coming before him.
It’s fascinating that the stigma officially attached for so long to south county growers is now spreading to people up north working to bring our county’s economic underpinnings out from the shadows.
What do people think about this? Should the Economic Backbone that Dares Not Speak its Name be shunned as our economy otherwise collapses? Or should the city and county be receptive to the only actual good job creation happening in this county?
Suddenly I feel less lonely, what a wacky world.
Anyone know anything about a “big fire” in Eureka?
House on fire by Samoa bridge according to tweets by Tapperass.
Thanks. Photo was posted here: http://yfrog.com/bcz8iyj
If y’all care, that trap house neighborhood was a time bomb.
It is right across from open space so everybody dumped shit behind that block and when they cleaned it up into a big ass rent-a-dumpster, people came back and dumped in the alleys all not stealth like. Folks live on that block in raggedy ass trailers and squats and whatever they can find. All the businesses there are in ghetto metal warehouse buildings so they should be all good.
My boy said he ran out of his trailer on X St. and ain’t gonna come back for a minute since who knows what the fuck kinna toxic waste is burning.
It is sad as there are families living in that half ass residential, half industrial waste area. Hopefully nobody got hurt.
And there are mad historic buildings everywhere which I hope don’t burn down. Anybody wanna wear a gas mask and go update this shit?
Got a new text saying the trap house fire looks under control.
Latest update on the fire is the owner was taken to the hospital for unspecified injuries, unknown whether all occupants escaped.
one dead
others released from hospital, one missing…
kateascot, there is a difference between the EPD and the DA’s investigators. Please make the distinction when discussing your video.
Tapperass has another photo of the fire on his blog.
Squat land is prolly ruined. It’s gonna be crowded by the bridge tonight.
investigators come up from the ranks of EPD and often have a hand in training new recruits
Wow, it sure does take kate a long time to upload a video to the internet. Maybe you need a faster internet connection, kate?
I can hardly wait to compare the video (if we ever actually get to see it) with kate’s earlier characterization of it. Smoking gun, or water pistol? We’ll see (maybe, eventually).
hyperbole…distortion of facts to put a spin on alternative point of view to invalidate testimony or evidence…
You haven’t presented any evidence to invalidate, Kate.
actually I am having some technical difficulties and am not the most computer literate person so getting this up is taking some time….new camera and pgms to understand.
In the meantime the DA has a much better more high quality camera with experts at his disposal, ask him to show his if you’re so all fired in a hurry to see cops be foolish
Usually when an activist has video evidence of serious police abuse, they upload it the the web within hours of the incident. Sitting on their alleged “evidence” for a protracted period of time is certainly very odd behavior for someone who opposes police abuse.
Unless, of course, the video doesn’t really show what kate has claimed it showed. And fortunately, her previously-made claims can be viewed here on the Herald’s comment threads, and these claims can and will be compared to the actual video (assuming kate ever actually shares the video).
In the meantime, kate’s claims continue to be “much sound and fury…signifying nothing.”
is personal testimony good evidence? I was there, so was Thaddeus Green….you need a picture? Wow, there’s been no real proof unless you can back your word up with pictures? You watch too much tv.
Gallegos isn’t the one claiming he has evidence of a crime — you are, Kate.
And seriously, you’re having “technical problems” that are preventing you from uploading a video to the internet? If that’s true, you might want to get virtually any teenager to help you for five minutes. It just ain’t that hard.
Or you could send the video to Heraldo, I’m sure he’d be happy to post it here.
If your video shows what you say it shows, perhaps the Hagen or Jackson campaigns would be willing to help you overcome those technical difficulties so that misdeeds in Gallegos’ office would come to light.
kate, you’re the one claiming to have video evidence, there’s no wriggling out of it now. You claimed to have it, said that it would show police abuse, and promised to show it, and now you are just stalling and saying that the video doesn’t matter that much. Not exactly a confidence-inspiring move.
As anyone familiar with legal trials knows, eyewitness testimony can be helpful, but eyewitness accounts can also vary quite widely. If activists say they witnessed police abuse, while the DA staff say that is not what they witnessed, the eyewitness testimony is not enough, on its own, to make your case. That is why the supposed video evidence could potentially be important.
If DA staff DID use excessive force, then I and others would want to know about it. You have promised that you could prove it with your video. Let’s see if you can keep that promise, rather than try to deflect it with your bizzaro-world spin.
set me straight here, what am I claiming?
Sweetdeepfriedjesusonastick.
You really can’t remember all the claims you have made about this video and what it would show?
Go back and read your comments on the blog threads here on the Herald.
This evidence sounds less like a smoking gun and more like something you’d see Judge Wapner discredit.
“something you’d see Judge Wapner discredit”
American jurisprudence?
“set me straight here, what am I claiming?”
It seems less and less…
oh I know what I’m claiming but lately on this blog I’ve heard that I’ve said what I haven’t said so i just want to make things clear because what this blog is good for is looking at the negative side of issues. While that can be a good thing it can also make it easy for people to assume the negative first off rather than think positively about a poster.
To stereotype me as the usual activist is absurd, activists have a broad base by which to work with and many different tools to use, hence the reason we can work effectively, we’re independent.
smoking gun was Heraldo’s comment that has now inflamed this issue.
my video will show you DA officer Dawson with his hand in the face of a man who had a trumpet in his mouth leaving a bruise and a chipped tooth. You will hear both the man and a woman proclaiming that they have been abused and ask to make an official complaint. There were at least 7 witnesses, including Thaddeus Green, a reporter at Times Standard. More witnesses were the office personnel behind the glass and officers going back and forth AND the DA’s video camera recording better angles than from where I was….is that clear before i begin rolling?
A-ha! Kate is here to shine a light on the positive side of things! Who would have guessed?
Wasn’t that house in Eureka that caught fire today the same one where Kim Starr got arrested trying to
“defend” the resident from being forced to comply with a city abatement order? One person died and one was badly burned. Seems that Kim is to blame for promoting a dangerous situation that resulted in a needless death.
If you’ve backpedaled sufficiently, then by all means go ahead and show us the video. Your previous claims are here on the comment threads of the Herald for anyone who wants to compare your earlier claims to your later claims, and to the video itself.
Yes, I believe it was the same house.
Hanging one scoundrel, it appears,
does not deter the next. Well, what of it?
The first one is at least disposed of.
— H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Heraldo are you a blond?
if it is true then at least this person was able to die in their own house instead of having it stolen and die of the results of the thievery
Kate are you a ninny?
See? Eureka needs set up a goddamn parking lot for folks to camp so they quit squatting in trap houses.
The same stalling ass city government officials would never squat in a place like that, near a place like that, in any sort of marginal neighborhood, etc.
I gotta hand the Democracy Unlimited folks at least they sorta made their own neighborhood a little less like that spot in the years they been there. The thugs and shit are all 2, 3 blocks away from that now instead of across the street.
You can’t go and blame Kim Starr for that fire, that shit was about to happen anyway. If it wasn’t that particular spot, it would be somewhere close. I’m not tryna say that area is not all raggedy Victorians, fenced-in businesses, squatters, and hoes… there is some other shit there. There really needs to be some kinna camp anyways.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49879&id=1659704426&1=4fbc339694
O.K., a quick persual of the last set of Quick Notes (not even incluing her frequent thread-jacking on unrelated topics) yields the following claims by kateascot:
_____________________________________________
kateascot says:
April 11, 2010 at 12:17 pm
…James Dawson, was filmed (by my camera and that of the DA) attacking* 2 of the people waiting for Paul Gallegos to appear.
———————————————
kateascot says:
April 11, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Wail til this hits the fan. Wow!
———————————————
kateascot says:
April 12, 2010 at 11:53 am
May 28 is the date set for arraignment of charges against protesters at DA office who were abused* by DA officer Dawson.
———————————————
kateascot says:
April 15, 2010 at 4:14 pm
DA Gallegos and the Times Standard are keeping quiet about an incident April 8 in the DA’s office lobby involving illegal arrests* of 2 CopWatch observers. James Dawson, a DA official employee, physically attacked 2 persons* waiting to talk in person with Gallegos. This was caught on a DA camera and one held by a community member.
———————————————
kateascot says:
April 26, 2010 at 9:09 pm
…this one was filmed by the DA’s office as well as me so there is undeniable evidence* that a senior investigator was abusive* to the point of causing bodily harm* simply because he was annoyed*. When we were arrested the victims had not had their injuries attended to by any personnel, that is negligence*.
———————————————
kateascot says:
May 2, 2010 at 3:45 pm I’ll be patient and show my recording when there is more to show with it, keep tuned in….it’ll knock your socks off!*
———————————————
kateascot says:
May 15, 2010 at 2:48 pm
[The DA] dropped charges on us for “trespassing” so I guess we could file “false arrest”*. I’m keeping my recording for that reason….
———————————————
kateascot says:
May 16, 2010 at 4:03 pm
anon…….
For the sake of justice I’ve decided to show my filming of the protest at the DA’s office on April 8, soon.
———————————————
kateascot says:
May 16, 2010 at 5:13 pm
anon…….
I should just keep you wanting, that’s power.
_____________________________________________
So, according to kate’s earlier claims, Dawson was “attacking” the protesters, physically “attacked” them, “abused” them, there were “illegal arrests” and “false arrest.”
In one particularly amusing little screed, kate claimed that on the video “there is undeniable evidence that a senior investigator was abusive to the point of causing bodily harm simply because he was annoyed.” She adds that there was also “negligence” involved.
Well, with all that to look forward to, I’m sure the film will “knock your socks off.” If we ever get to see it.
kateascot says:
May 27, 2010 at 6:19 pm
“if it is true then at least this person was able to die in their own house instead of having it stolen and die of the results of the thievery.”
kate, you really should consider thinking before hitting that “submit comment” button.
well it certainly knocked my socks off, but then I was there and saw the arrogance and lack of care in person. I also felt the intended humiliation from being arrested and all that is entailed in that scenario. I’m sure the drama will begin, about now!
Boy I sure hope the rest of your video has a bit more sock-popping potential than that still photo, which shows little and proves nothing:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49879&id=1659704426&1=4fbc339694
Anyway, kate, do you stand by your claims of “undeniable evidence,” that Dawson “attacked” and “abused” people and that there were “illegal arrests,” and “false arrest?”
Or would you like to backpedal a bit more before you maybe, finally, possibly air your famous secret video evidence?
As far as “drama” goes, don’t worry, I think your status as Drama Queen is well-established.
so there was no video with the pic? OK i’m working on it….
OK, I’ll try that link again in a little while…
By the way, if you want to confirm whether your video is posted or not, try clicking the link yourself.
Since there was a trumpet involved for some reason, audio is also needed.
Oh I forgot to include today’s claim, less specific than most, but it covers a whole lot of ground:
——————————–
kateascot says:
May 27, 2010 at 10:06 am
“My video proves that police are arrogant, mean-spirited and out-of-control and get away with those fascist-juvenile attitudes.”
——————————–
Wow, your video of one DA investigator “proves” all that? Now I really can’t wait to see it!
“audio is also needed.”
Yes, by all means, since that way we’ll hear “both the man and a woman proclaiming that they have been abused” as kateascot describes it upthread. Because that will obviously “prove” the abuse.
It seems that to kate “proclaiming” abuse is proof enough. Kind of reminds me of Michael Scott on the Office “declaring” bankruptcy:
go to my profile
Wow, talk about anticlimax. Two seconds of Dawson wagging his finger, and 3 minutes 35 seconds of a guy claiming to have been assaulted and his friends screaming through some kind of megaphone.
What about the video leading up to those first two seconds, you know, the part where the alleged “assault” allegedly took place?
So far, the only person shown being assaulted in that video is the poor receptionist who had to listen to that whole amplified tantrum.
By the way, here’s what I think is the correct link. Click on it and (if you have a facebook account) the much-hyped video is there:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49879&id=1659704426&1=4fbc339694#!/Kathyascot?v=wall
Smoking gun? No.
Water pistol? Not even.
More like one of those little guns where you pull th trigger and out pops a little flag with the word “bang.”
Weak.
kate, is that you in the video, calling them “killer cops?”
8:11 does it take a billy-club cracked up side your head to help you realize that there are bullies on the police force? How ever tame you think that was it is still evidence in the form of real people reacting to a real violent situation. Is that how you want your public officials acting?
No one, least of all me, would claim that there are no bullies on police forces. But you haven’t shown any evidence of that at all.
“Is that how you want your public officials acting?”
The only people I saw acting in a seriously inappropriate and uncivil manner in that video were the protesters trying to bully public servants with a megaphone.
News Flash: Shouting at people through a megaphone does not make the allegations any more credible.
“However tame you think that was it is still evidence in the form of real people reacting to a real violent situation.”
We only have your word that there WAS any “real” violent situtation. Your video shows people making claims loudly, and it shows public servants who can’t help but be amused by the ridiculous spectacle you all were making of yourselves by whipping yourselves into a frenzy of accusations, including that they were “killer cops.”
ok now I want the DA to show his video to prove what you are saying….here in a public arena I ask Gallegos to show the video that proves I am a fake or a credible tax paying citizen doing what free Americans do in their home towns to bring light to a dark subject, injustice. Mr. DA do you really mean what is in the hallway of your office; that you are committed to fair treatment to all people at all times. Then you will show and tell the truth in this situation.
…his video that was shot behund the glass of his office…
If the guy was blowing the trumpet in the DA’s office, it is possible that his mouth got bloodied if Dawson tried to take it away from him to stop him from disturbing the whole office. Unfortunate, but understandable and certainly not brutal or abusive. People who scream police brutality over every little thing, especially when their own actions cause it, dull people’s outrage over real police brutality which does occur.
Going back to the (partial) list of kateascot’s claims that I posted at 6:32, could any reasonable observer believe that the posted video “proves” ANY of those claims? Or that the video even provides ANY evidence to back up those claims?
Or how about today’s claim:
kateascot says:
May 27, 2010 at 10:06 am
“My video proves that police are arrogant, mean-spirited and out-of-control and get away with those fascist-juvenile attitudes.”
Any “proof” of that in the video?
Nope. Much to the contrary, what the video shows is a lot of arrogant, mean-spirited and out-of-control behavior by the protesters, as they suffered their hysterical, hyperbolic meltdown.
“People who scream police brutality over every little thing, especially when their own actions cause it, dull people’s outrage over real police brutality which does occur.”
Bingo!
Now I can certainly see why kate preferred to describe her video rather than sharing it for all to see. Now we see it, and we see all of her claims of what it would “prove” were completely false.
Just when I thought your credibility couldn’t sink any lower, kate…bit apparently it could, and did.
If you really think there was an “assault,” then file a police report, take it to the state Attorney General, or file a lawsuit and subpoena the DA’s tape. Otherwise go practice your pathetic little Drama Queen act somewhere else.
Is that really where your tape started, kate, or is there a segment before that which you are not showing (and if so, why)? Because if that’s all you’ve got, you should hang your head in shame at all the ridiculous claims you made earlier.
So, kate, now Dawson is guilty until proven innocent by the DA’s videotape (since yours shows zilch)? Amazing that someone could have reached your age and still have such distorted ideas of justice. Thank heavens you’re just a wingnut and not in a position of public trust.
And if you didn’t like being laughed at, then you’d better not try to convince an actual judge that this video somehow “proves” there was an “assualt” “attack” or “abuse.” Such a claim is literally laughable.
This video coverage isn’t as conclusive as when Oscar Grant got shot. I need like 85 different angles or else I have my doubts.
I’d settle for even one angle that actually shows something meaningful.
ra I certainly did pull your chain didn’t I? i haven’t been so gushed over since the last creep tried to impress me with his slobbery….thanks
Sorry, I don’t go for people like you, who puff themselves up with the exaggerated claims and imagined self-importance.
You have truly made a fool of yourself on this issue, kate. No pathetic (failed) attempt at cleverness is going to deflect from that.
well it’s too bad that you aren’t able to understand simple things like the truth when it stares you in the face…not everyone is like you (I think that might be a good thing). You think that your snide remarks and loathsome attitude is attractive? I say you are so uptight inside that even a strong laxative would fail to relieve your suffering, you are in need of major surgery for that pucker of yours. it might do you some good to look at things from a brighter point of view than from that of where the sun don’t shine….
Activists make fools of themselves for the glory! Hey it’s the Kinetic Sculpture Race Season…For The Glory!!!!!!!!
Truth? We crave the truth Kate. You said you had the truth in a video, but then refused to show us the truth. Who ordained you as the Keeper of the Truth?
You have no credibility left here. Don’t waste our time with your fantasy world of hate.
I’ve refused nothing….you got what you asked for and now you snivel….sounds like a waste of time to me
Face it, kate, you claimed to have:
“undeniable evidence that a senior investigator was abusive to the point of causing bodily harm simply because he was annoyed.”
But your video showed nothing of the sort. Your credibility is zero. So now you resort to personal attacks, but that deflection will also get you nowhere.
And as Jane said earlier, your crying “wolf” in a case like this will cause some folks to disbelieve people who really HAVE suffered from police abuse. You are your own worst enemy.
You ought to be ashamed.
“Activists make fools of themselves for the Glory.”
Well, ineffective, self-indulgent activists do that.
Real activists remain calm, avoid making claims they can’t back up, and therefore build the credibility and moral authority that they need to make a real difference in the world.
Real, effective activists are not at ALL interested in “glory,” they are interested in achieving results. The attitude and behavior that you folks displayed in that video did just the opposite, and not surprisingly your actions then, and your exaggerated claims about the incident since then, only detract from the important cause of preventing police abuse.
When I saw that televised tantrum that you folks had in the DA’s waiting room, I couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast to civil rights protesters who struggled against far harsher conditions. Faced with a high level of brutality, they kept their cool and held the high moral ground with their exemplary behavior. Whereas in your case, you guys threw a ridiculous screaming, shouting tantrum over virtually nothing, losing any moral high ground you might have had in the process.
I suggest you rethink your approach, focusing on facts rather than wildly inflated exaggerations. And behaving like reasonably sane adults when conducting a protest wouldn’t hurt either.
Did Mike Thompson jump to his feet on the floor of Congress to applaud the attack made by Mexican President Calderon on the State of Arizona for wanting American immigration laws to be enforced?
Does Mike Thompson employ illegal alien workers to grow his grapes or make wine?
Why is no one addressing these questions? They concern his capacity to represent the people of his district.
“Does Mike Thompson employ illegal aliens…”
Great, another unsubstantiated allegation. If you have any evidence, show it to everyone, take it to ICE, file a lawsuit, or whatever. Otherwise slither back under that rock where you belong.
No Kate. We’re still waiting for the video you promised that contains the damning evidence you promised. At what point should we just start calling you a liar?
11:55…1:27 SNORE….blah…blah…huh…blah….snore
tra 8:31,
Ditto.
1:27,
kate lied, then exposed her own lies with her pathetic video. Now she is embarrasssed and has given up making her claims, instead resorting to childish stuff. In a way, that’s an improvement. It seems that’s about the best we can hope for from kate.
Well, the next time she testifies before a county committee or commission, someone should be there to shout from the audience, “You lie!”
Maybe they’ll use a megaphone, too?
Hey, you self-proclaimed reasonable person. It was a question, not an allegation! Don’t tell me you don’t know the difference.
You just want to divert people’s attention away from the question of whether Mike Thompson may have applauded the President of Mexico on the floor of the U.S. legislature and whether he may be supporting the use of illegal aliens in California agriculture.
So let’s forget “Reasonable Anonymous” and find someone here who can tell us the answer to at least one question that should be easy to answer: Did Mike Thompson jump up and applaud the Mexican President Calderon when he bashed Arizona for its attempt to enforce United States Immigration Law?
At times like this, I actually prefer the carryings-on of kateascot to those of the inaptly-named reasonable anonymous. Well, like it or not, we’re all in this together.
What a cheery thought. :-(
Anonymous says:
May 29, 2010 at 12:30 am
“At times like this, I actually prefer the carryings-on of kateascot…”
Figures. Shitbirds of a feather schlock together.
That is a cheery thought. It’s too bad it’s not the one Kate gave us. Launching a witch hunt, only to be revealed as baseless when asked for evidence to support the alleged misdeeds, well, that stinks to high heaven.
This should all end if Kate recants her baseless claims and issues a public apology. An apology. Now that’s a cheery thought.
After falsely claiming Betty Chinn had endorsed her, DA candidate Allison Jackson changed her tune and falsely claimed that Chinn had been harrassed into withdrawing her endorsement.
Classy.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15188468
Speaking of class, Paul Hagan listed every donor who gave him pocket change in order to declare the contribution of Worth Dikeman, who’d given him $99, just under the declaration limit.
on the other hand, Dikeman gave Jackson $500. Wonder how much he gave the other Paul as he spread it around? Is it possible he doesn’t support Hagen after all?
Alert: Sunday morning, 6:30 AM, HGTVH Channel 764 on Suddenlink: “Holmes on Homes” will feature the story you may have missed the first time around, to whit:
“Gone to Pot”
“A house has been busted as a marijuana-growing operation and now needs massive repairs. Instr.”
This came straight from the Suddenlink program guide a few minutes ago. Set your DVR!
To dislike my questions about Mike Thompson is one thing. To draw a conclusion from them that I am in any way allied with kateascot is nuts.
Ergo, “the reasonable anonymous” is nuts.
Heraldo, your blog system is assigning me an avatar that may confuse some people who can’t discern my writing style from that of other participants who write under the name of “Anonymous.”
Can you look into this situation? I don’t really need an avatar, but I especially don’t want to share the same (goofy-looking) avatar with anybody else.
Thanks!
Your Anonymous friend who likes Quick Notes so well.
ditto
Hey, kate, since you have such a problem with our current DA, you could always vote for Allison Jackson. Like you, she likes to exaggerate and bloviate and hyperbolize and overgeneralize and make unsubstantiated allegations which she then won’t own up to. It’s a match made in wingnut heaven!
There’s a simple solution: leave an email address.
Four years writing as an Anonymous, Heraldo, and only now am I having this avatar thing come up. Any idea why?
Anonymous says:
May 29, 2010 at 8:09 pm
To dislike my questions about Mike Thompson is one thing. To draw a conclusion from them that I am in any way allied with kateascot is nuts.
Ergo, “the reasonable anonymous” is nuts.
I never said you were “allied” with kateascot, but I couldn’t help but notice that you both seem to like making unsubstantiated claims, then demanding that others disprove them.
Hey, maybe you, kateascot, and Allison Jackson could all get together for a little support group for people who make unsubstantiated allegations, get caught doing it, and then try to hide their embarrassment with pathetic attempts at spin.
Test using a@b.com
Test using b@c.com
Test using no email address.
Does this clarify things for you?
11:57….many people viewing my video feel VERY differently about what is on there…you are blinded by whatever you have crammed between your ears…..more to come in this saga…..Mr. DA, will we hear from you?
Thanks for the demonstration, Mitch. The way this keeps coming up lately I’ll probably need to link to it.
Let’s ignore distractions like “the reasonable anonymous” for now.
Let me ask again. Was Mike Thompson one of the hundreds of members of our U.S. Congress who jumped to their feet and applauded Mexican President Calderon when Calderon recently spoke to them? I can’t find the answer anywhere else, so naturally, I turned to this meeting ground of well-informed individuals.
Calderon berated the State of Arizona for its recent legislation designed to enforce U.S. immigration laws that our federal government has refused for over twenty years to enforce. That is the reason those members of Congress jumped up and applauded Calderon.
I saw them on television news jumping up together, but I don’t see any of them jumping up now to take credit for their support of Calderon or for their disdain for the Arizona legislation. Not since Congress found out most Americans think Arizona is doing the right thing.
Even if 100% of the people agreed with a certain law, if it violates the constitution it can never be the right thing. If you want to deny a certain subset of people civil rights, you must first amend the constitution to allow it. Laws which require a higher level of proof for people because of how they look are civil rights violations. It’s to be expected that a certain subset will scapegoat another subset when things get hard, but that doesn’t change the constitution.
Anon 2:30.
In my opinion the Arizona law is unworkable, and parts of it will probably be found unconstitutional. So if Thompson “leapt to his feet” to applaud a speech against the Arizona law, that’s just fine with me.
As far as your earlier allegation — oh that’s right, it was just a “question” — about Thompson supposedly hiring illegal aliens, I stand by my criticism. That was, to put it bluntly, an sleazy attempt to smear Thompson.
Anyway, have fun with your xenophobic little jihad.
You can’t answer my questions so you resort to insult. As Tommy Smothers once said, It doesn’t take a lot of brain to sing “Quack, quack, quack” in a song about a Fox!
Wait! That was Dicky Smothers.
As far as your question about whether Thompson “leapt to his feet” at a particular point in the Mexican Prez’s speech, I would advise you to review the CSPAN footage. So you’re right that I “can’t answer” that particular question, at least not right off the top of my head. See, the thing is, I don’t really care if he “leapt to his feet” or not, so I haven’t researched it. But you probably could find the answer to that question on the CSPAN footage. Go ahead and give it a try, if you actually want to find out the answer.
As far as your other “question” (attempted smear by questioning) I say that if you’ve got any evidence, let’s see it. Smearing people while providing zero evidence, and then demanding that others provide evidence to the contrary is just plain silliness. Like it or not, you’re deep into kateascot territory.
Go soak your head.
Thanks, I think I will. Meanwhile, you can continue to stew in your own juices.
“Go soak your head” wins for originality and irrefutable logic.
Not to mention maturity.
That’s good. I borrowed it from a kid I knew in the 4th grade.
Actually, it is a good piece of advice for people like RA and me, whose heads sometimes become overloaded and whose blood vessels become overworked.
A good head-soaking cools the system. Like turning off the old CPU for a little while, it allows the warped and overwrought mettle to return to shape.
Just what a guy like you needs.
There I go. Talking to myself again!
It’s been a tough, tough couple days…. First the loss of Gary Coleman, then Dennis Hopper.On the upside, Celine Dion is pregnant with twins!
One of our nation’s founding principles is that our military must take direction from our civilian leadership and not the other way around.
That is one reason our nation is not run by military dictatorships, as so many other nations are.
In other words, it is one of the reasons Americans are still free.
My reason for mentioning this on Memorial Day? It is a reply to something I read in our local daily.
Watching the 4th District Candidates’ Debate on Channel 10, I just heard Jeff Leonard say he built the playground at 14th and E Streets from nothing last year.
Hey, Jeff, I lived within a few blocks of 14th and E Streets for many, many years. It was there in the mid 1970s – I saw that with my own eyes… It was still there before you did your work to upgrade it.
Why try to steal all the glory?
Why not give a LITTLE credit to the people who came before you, to build that park?
Just so I’m clear:
It’s bad to refer to an abused baby as “broken” but it’s fine to refer to an abused baby as a “political football”. Do I have that right?
A gift for you, the trendy set,
from the Diet King, a brief couplet.
Moderation in eating is important to learn.
If we take less in, there’ll be less to burn.
Here is a challenge
to do me “one better”
Write a beefier couplet —
In “Anabolic Pentameter.”
Hey 7:44, did Jeff mention that the “not for profit” group that donated all the new playground equipment for that park is part of the public relations activities of Home Depot? I’m guessing no.
This comment just got censored from the North Coast Journal blog where they attack other local media for allowing the same “F-bomb” to be uttered that Hank Sims belts out with sickening regularity:
“So Ryan Sundberg appeared on the Access Humboldt debates and interviews, but wouldn’t appear on the North Coast Journal debate. Boo hoo. Sounds like sour grapes to me coming from the Sims gang.”
This could be a very important case.
KCSG Television – Judge James L Shumate Orders Halt to Bank of America Foreclosures in Utah
http://urlet.com/apply.led
(St. George, UT) June 5, 2010 – A court order issued by Fifth District Court Judge James L. Shumate May 22, 2010 in St. George, Utah has stopped all foreclosure proceedings in the State of Utah by Bank of America Corporation.
Yo. Richard Marks has a post up whining about Bonnie “going negative”. Something about the Eureka budget and tax increases.
any sigh of rose?
Update:
The Five O’clock KIEM-TV Channel 3 News (our “only news on television”) will appear tonight at 8:00 p.m. according to schedules now available to all who still care to view what Channel 3 considers “news.”
Hey, what happened to the big I-know-who-Heraldo-is unveiling that was supposed to happen this week?
Today’s guest editorial in the T-S says our California system for funding schools is broken.
Hey! What about this idea? California could run a big Lottery. Money could go to California schools (and also to Indian casinos). All our problems would be solved!
Remember? That’s how they ‘sold’ the California State Lottery to the California voters.
California State’s voters. Rubes. The same gullible folks who gave us “compassionate” medical marijuana.
But let’s forget about the past! The people who brought us into this miserable situation are trying to lead us to a new bright, shiny place. And we California Voters, gullible as ever, are preparing ourselves for the journey.
“Hey, what happened to the big I-know-who-Heraldo-is unveiling that was supposed to happen this week?”
That’s 2 for 2 failed explosions this week. Threats and smears, no boom.
A “word to the wise” -> Whatever you say the next time you attend the NAACP Soul Food Dinner, DO NOT bring up the subject of astronomy!
NAACP news flash *** The NAACP announced a 285 million dollar class action lawsuit against Santa Claus, who last December was clearly heard calling out “Whore, Whore, Whore” and then making some lame racist excuse.
My last post disappeared into a black hole.
Now I can’t make a connection to the internet via AT&T Broadband.
Are all you folks suffering in the same way?
Or is it (horrors!) just ME?
It was just me.
Thanks to all for your concern and timely responses!
Is Julian Bond dead or just being quiet about that embarrassing Hallmark card controversy?
I’d be embarrassed if my members didn’t know that black holes are found in space, not here on earth!
It is always wise to avoid unpleasant truths. But who ever said I was wise?
The Times-Standard today runs a story on “the longest Humboldt County trial in recent memory.” The trial has gone on for 106 court days.
The charges were brought against a financial giant in the field of nursing homes, Skilled Healthcare, Inc. That is the outfit that runs many nursing homes, most likely including one of the local nursing homes where some of your elderly loved ones have spent their last days.
You might want to read the article – both for what it says and for what it fails to say.
The accusations against Skilled Healthcare, Inc. revolve around the evidence that the people entrusted to their care have been shortchanged, not by the hardworking and caring staffs, but by upper management, which has reportedly refused to hire enough people to ensure proper care was delivered.
In other words, the trial will determine if Skilled Healthcare permitted its residents to live in misery for the improvement of the company’s financial benefit.
DA Gallegos, without commenting on how such a state of neglect could continue unabated from 2003-2006, offered his view of the situation in the following words from the article.
“It’s been a long-term problem,” said Gallegos. “There is overwhelming evidence that the law has been broken.”
The Humboldt County DA’s office seems to have assumed a peripheral role in the prosecution. (I am not a lawyer and can’t be sure how to explain what the article says about the relation of the DA’s office to the prosecution team. You’d be better off to read the article yourself.)
For anyone who has endured the stench of greed that fills the air in a nursing home where a loved one has gone for needed care – at a time when the loved one was at his or her most vulnerable point in life – the outcome of this trial is important.
But Big Money is involved. Such stories do not often seem to see the light of day, or they are reported late and not pursued, as we have seen so recently and so clearly.
Reggae kaput.
Do you mean Reggae Rising? If so, please provide some details.
I’m assuming you DON’T mean the Mateel’s Reggae on the River (aka the “real Reggae fest”), which as far as I know is still totally on track.
Lacking permits, last I knew.
I’m more than happy to see “Rising” fall.
This would be great news for the Mateel, as it would mean less competition and therefore larger potential ticket sales for the real, non-profit Reggae on the River, benefitting the Mateel. You know, like it used to be before Bruno and Dimmick got all greedy and tried to hijack the whole thing.
I understand. Most people would rather not think about nursing homes.
Regardless, we all grow older day by day.
Unless we care for our disabled elders now, who will care for us when we are the elders?
Well, let’s not worry about that! We’ll think about it later. Much later.
But our elders tell us “later” comes much sooner than anybody thinks it will.
But who listens to them?
7:36,
You might want to see if Heraldo would put up a posting on the nursing home case. Not that many people go to “Quick Notes.”
It’s on my list.
Thank you, Mitch.
Thank you, Heraldo!
Heraldo, the reporter Matt Drange wrote a follow-up article, which appeared in today’s Times-Standard.
In response to an e-mailed letter, he replied saying he plans to continue covering the case during the time it heads toward jury deliberation.
Let’s fight the temptation to put the nursing home situation out of our minds until we are the ones stuck in those beds, hoping for release.
Well put, 5:15.
I offer my thanks to “the reasonable anonymous” for an encouraging word when I really needed one.
Heraldo,
Today was a big day in the trial on my father up at Titlow Hill.
The Judge ruled today that the County was not a direct victim of the land sales at Titlow Hill, and therefore was not entitled to any compensation.
While that was good news for my father, on the down side(for him), the judge ruled that the offense should stay a Felony, which means that he will lose his license to practice law for a while, I think I heard that the punishment is around three years.
I saw John Driscoll from the Times-Standard and Heidi Walters from the North Coast Journal in attendance taking notes. I expect a story tomorrow morning from the TS and next week from the Journal, but who knows.
I am still baffled at the decision by the county to prosecute it as a felony, but I admit that I’m close to the story and maybe not objective. It just seems weird that it was essentially a permitted activity for over twenty years prior to being prosecuted as a felony.
Ken, thanks for the update on that case. I featured your comment on the front page.
For those who care: The Times-Standard Saturday edition didn’t come out today. I’m talking about the one I pay for. No show, no explanation, and judging by what happened the last time, today’s paper will never be posted on line. Oh, well, it’s a good day for a walk to the nearest news stand. Just like in the old days.
I have a friend. Whenever something bad happens, he keeps calm about it. He says “Who cares?” and goes on to think about other things.
Funny. When I start to regale him with one of my long, fascinating monologues on the issues of our day, often says “Who cares?” and quickly walks away.
Can anybody here recommend a good psychologist?
Insert “he” above, after “issues of our day.”
Thanks.
Henchman of Justice…I can’t read a single thing he writes. His style of writing gives me a headache. I get the impression he thinks he’s super smart and has to prove it with every post. Ugh.
He knows a lot of words. The trouble comes when trying to string them together.
That same problem overcomes me from time to time, Heraldo.
Then I read what I just wrote and – ahem – edit it.
Oh, wouldst that others would do the same!
(Are you tuned in, Mr. Henchman, Sir?)
I decided to pay a visit to the humboldt mirror,and saw this comment by Rose,read it and realized she may have completely lost it.Her dislike of Salzman has reached manic levels.
“Rose, on June 19, 2010 at 1:12 pm Said:
Don’t blame Natalynne. She is young. And she is being lied to. She already knows it, down deep. She already feels it. It stirs in the shadows, and she catches it out of the corner of her eye, but chooses to pretend it is not there. The signs are there. She soldiers on, convinced that she is fighting for a cause. Blame the puppetmasters who use people like her.
The day will come when she comes to understand the importance of the issues here. The day will come when she will realize the extent to which she has been played by the cynical, scorched-earth Salzman’s of the world. She may even have the good grace to be ashamed when that day comes.
Sooner than that, she may get tired of making excuse after excuse after excuse for someone who cares not a whit about her. Salzman has spent the last eight years covering up for Paul’s transgressions, wooing, cajoling, beating on reporters to get his message into the papers, staying up nights contriving elaborate constructs to cover for him, schemes to make it look like Gallegos has widespread support – all fake. All devised, all with the purpose of hiding the truth. This is the legacy you are attaching your name to, Natalynne. And there will be no end to what you are asked to do. Sooner or later, you will have to draw the line.
You have taken the task on willingly, and the day will come when one can no longer blame the puppetmasters, but it will be you yourself who will be accountable.
I am sorry for you.”
What of the allegation of resume padding? It looks suspiciously like Paul did in fact lie about his supposed service as DDA. Not that it’ll cost him the election, as most dont really think it’s a big issue.
Even with this gaffe performed here by Paul,as I do agree that he likely did over exaggerate what his service was,he still is a better candidate than his opponent.
Rose must be practicing her creative writing.
It whispers through the trees. It simmers on the stovetop of her inner kitchen.
Rose…those mushrooms by the side of the road in Manila…don’t eat those anymore.
“And there will be no end to what you are asked to do.” Heh heh heh.
It staggers past sleeping County workers. It’s the whoosh as a bicycle goes by, the quiet moan of a cut redwood. It hates Republicans, and it’s coming to get you, Rose.
A Grand Jury once made an embarrassing mistake here. Well-meaning members of the local upper crust, they inadvertently revealed their ignorance of workplace realities.
Their report accused County workers of sitting around drinking coffee and chatting! Wasting the tax payers dollars! Shocking!
It turned out the Grand Jury members had never had to work for a living. That’s why they did not know employees are entitled by law to a “coffee break” in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Heraldo! TRA! Mitch! Plain Jane! Other unnamed persons! Muckrakers one hundred years ago did what blogs are doing today!
That’s my daily insight. You have my permission and encouragement to run with it.
Perhaps peering into the past can help us chart a path into a future where the monied interests do NOT dominate everybody else.
Incidentally, Heraldo, WordPress is allowing me to copy and paste now. This has only happened two or there times before.
Have I been granted this special power as a reward for something I have done? If so, would you tell me what it is, so I can keep doing it?
Strangely, though, it works in the article about DeeDee, but not here in Quick Notes.
I forgot that issue even existed, and I’m sorry to hear it’s still a problem.
Well, frankly, Heraldo, as long as I have your sympathy, I can live with the situation as it is.
And no, I am NOT being snarky!
(I’m just as sincere as ever.)
The problem with copy and paste persists, as do I. Don’t worry about it, Heraldo!
Makes one wonder if the cut and paste problem is related to even or uneven numbers of “”, (or is it ” ” “?) embedded in comments on this page. Since the problem is intermittent. Occam’s Razor you know.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
The particular WordPress site doesn’t let me copy and paste. Instead I have to right-click, “select all,” copy the whole thread, then paste, then cut everything but the part I want to quote. A bit inefficient, and mildly annoying, but no big deal.
Meanwhile, Sohum Parlance, also on WordPress, always allows copy & paste. So its not WordPress itself, I suppose there must be something in the “Contempt” theme that disables it.
Heraldo, if you were able to correct this problem it would be helpful. When people paraphrase each other’s words, they usually do a pretty poor job of it, then the discussion gets sidetracked into “I never said that…” Direct quotes are better, so of there is any way to make them easier, that would be great. If not, oh well, there’s always “select all”
Thanks for that hypothesis, TRA, I hadn’t thought of it. I contacted WordPress about this a while back and they had no idea what might be the problem.
Perhaps it’s time to get serious about changing the theme.
Works okay on xScope, Opera, and Steel. Theme for those, two years everyone will be on that shit.
TRA expressed my feelings and thoughts better than I did myself. Thanks, TRA!
Heraldo, I’m glad you see how fixing this copy and paste function would help improve the quality of our communication here (as TRA explained).
It might help for you to know that in Quick Notes this morning, I could not use copy-and-paste, but I could use it in one of your two newest entry comments sections. Or it might confuse you. Damned if I know.
I’m just really glad you’re working on it.
Why does it take so long to count the ballots in Humboldt County? The Elections Office just started counting 6700 mail-in ballots today, June 25. For the June 8 election!
Am I the only person around here who is beginning to harbor doubts about our elections office?
Will this problem get worse as the years go by?
Will we eventually be told “Counting ballots on time is too hard and too expensive, so we’ve decided to stop counting them at all.”
When Capitalism Meets Cannabis (in Colorado)
PJ, obviously it should be legalized, if only to get rid of the grow houses, home invasions, and trip wires and pollution in the woods. . .but OH! The Bullshit! “Patients”, “dispensaries”, hemp, bogus doctors. . .it’s really about huge profits off people who want to get high. “A pound of marijuana can be sold at retail for somewhere between $5,500 and $7,500. To buy that quantity wholesale will cost about $4,000. Grow it yourself and the same pound will cost just $750 to $1,000.” This isn’t about providing relief for sufferers. As always, follow the money. This is the kind of capitalism teapartiers dream about.
I think the whole marijuana thing would make a great block-busting movie.
Call it “Hemp Wars.” You’re sure to make a fortune!
That reminds me. I met a couple of nice folks in a small Humboldt County city last weekend. We got to talking about collectibles and antiques.
We discovered we all like to watch “American Pickers” on the History Channel. We also like to watch “Pawn Stars” on that same channel.
But they, being modest and church-going folks, could not bring themselves to say the name of that second show. “Pawn Stars” was too close to “Porn Stars” for them to speak, even though they like and watch the program every week.
I thought it was an endearing anachronism. Like a page from a book printed in the 19th Century.
This editorial about the NC Journal’s decision not to reveal the Ryan Sundberg DUI appears on the Journal’s web site today.
If my copying and pasting it from there to here is a violation of copyright, I most sincerely apologize and ask Heraldo to insert a link in its place.
Anonymous. The Great Anonymous.
media maven / By Marcy Burstiner
On Not Reporting
(July 1, 2010) The hardest decision for many journalists to make is whether to print something in the first place. It is also the most subjective. The decision is hardest for those who will break the news first. That’s when all repercussions fall in your hands. But that wasn’t the case with the pre-election news that candidate for Humboldt County Supervisor Ryan Sundberg had pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol late last year. Some anonymous tipster dropped that news item off to a number of local journalists just in time for the June election. Someone was bound to print it.
On June 10, North Coast Journal editor Hank Sims explained to his readers why he decided to withhold the news prior to the election: “There we were Friday afternoon with a choice to make … It was my call to make, and I made the latter. I’m not sure if I was right, but I’ll give you my reasoning … I could not see how it was relevant to the question at hand … Drunk driving, especially at the level that Sundberg was recorded at, is an inarguably heinous act. Still, I could not and cannot see how having once committed it, or having been arrested for it, might affect any vote Sundberg might be expected to take, were he elected.”
I tend toward disclosure. To me, that’s why journalists exist. When I worked newspaper beats, I told sources that if I couldn’t use information, I didn’t want to know it. It was no good for me to know information unless it would help toward the disclosure of information my readers needed or wanted.
There are reasons to withhold news. Some information should remain private — marital affairs, for instance, unless it involves a politician who gains and maintains office preaching “family values.” In that case, the affair reveals hypocrisy, which is relevant. I might withhold news that would provide readers with little information they needed to know or information that would effect no good even as its disclosure could have harmful ramifications. The ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists calls on news professionals to “minimize harm.” When I was a business reporter, for example, I didn’t think that the private dalliances of corporate executives were my business or that of my readers. And I would refrain from disclosing any information if I doubted its truthfulness.
In beginning reporting classes I teach students that there are five basic categories of newsworthiness: Proximity (local, local), prominence of the person (if Barack Obama sneezes it is news), importance of the subject matter, relevance to the reader and timeliness of the information. There is also a sixth category that journalists accept even though we don’t like it: Something that everyone is talking about. Generally stories are newsworthy for a mix of those reasons. The Sundberg DUI carries all of them. Knowing that someone would report it, would be something everyone would be talking about. The report on the Humboldt Herald got more than 600 comments, the Times-Standard story more than 300 and Sims’ explanation to readers got 47. But the biggest evidence of the relevancy of the news to readers was that Sims felt the need to explain to readers why he withheld it. If the news were not relevant there would be no need to explain the action.
What’s irrelevant, I think, is where the information came from, unless that speaks to its veracity. In this case, the information was easily confirmed. Sims argued that driving drunk won’t affect any decision Sundberg might make as supervisor. But he isn’t supervisor yet; he is a seeker for public office and the news could affect how voters act.
And what Sims failed to mention was the news, which Thadeus Greenson reported in the Times-Standard, that a judge issued Sundberg a bench warrant for failing to appear in court to answer the DUI charges. That means that Sundberg broke a promise to the court to appear, and it seems that might speak to whether he will keep campaign promises.
The Times-Standard regularly reports the names of private citizens charged with drunk driving. Sundberg’s name failed to show up in the paper apparently because of a change in computer systems at the district attorney’s office. Once the Times-Standard had the news, it had to report it. Otherwise it would give Sundberg more privacy as a public office seeker than those private citizens who regularly show up in the T-S’s published DUI lists. I think those who seek public office cede their right to privacy and should be held to a higher standard. He or she should be the best among us. And since legislators make laws, we should expect anyone who seeks to be a legislator to obey laws.
Thank you, Marcy Burstiner, and thank you to Hank and the North Coast Journal for printing her analysis.
Everyone makes mistakes. That includes candidates for office, and it includes editors. We can all hope that we and others are able to learn from our mistakes.
Good job, Marcy!
Dear Heraldo and all who read these words:
After being a nameless but dedicated contributor to the Humboldt Herald for more years than anybody cares to remember, I am making a great change.
I am changing my “nom de plume” (as the French used to say when people in France used pens instead of keyboards).
I will no longer be “Anonymous.”
Henceforth, I shall be “The Great Anonymous.”
I know the new name sounds pompous. It will actually be a reminder to me to avoid pomposity. And it will probably eliminate some of the unnecessary confusion I have so selfishly, until now, sowed in this fertile ground.
Wait! What happened? How do I change from “Anonymous” to “The Great Anonymous?”
How embarrassing!
Let’s see now….. I know I can do this…..
Voila!
My apologies. Under the name “Anonymous, at 12:07” I inadvertently copied and pasted only the first page of a two-page editorial from Marcy Burstiner concerning the Sundberg DUI. The second page appears below.
media maven / By Marcy Burstiner
On Not Reporting
Journalists should respect the intelligence of their readers and give them the opportunity to decide if information is relevant. Journalists should also help readers understand the relevancy of information and to distinguish between what is important and what might be superficial. That’s where perspective comes in. These days, any news organization that fails to report information cedes moderation of the conversation and perspective on it to the bloggers who will report it. You help readers understand relevancy in the way you frame it. If you run news as a small blurb you tell your readers it isn’t important. If you run it as a cover story, you scream that it is important.
By failing to disclose you also risk a snowballing of non-disclosure. What happens when some tidbit comes up involving Patrick Cleary that also falls on the borderline area of readers’ need to know? If the Journal breaks that news, it risks seeming biased against Cleary or partial to Sundberg. And if a publication repeatedly fails to have information other publications have, it risks looking like the last to know.
Marcy Burstiner is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Humboldt State University.
I like Curb Your Pompositism better.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Its Time for a Vacancy Tax in Eureka
Every vacant home in Eureka should be taxed at the rate of $250.00 per month in order to offset the cost to the city of extra services needed by vacant homes. Every vacant business should be taxed at the rate of $1 per square foot per month in order to offset the cost to the city of extra services required by vacant businesses.
Imposing this vacancy tax will give landlords a financial incentive to rent out their property instead of letting it sit vacant. Vacant homes lower the value of neighborhoods, while vacant businesses give the impression of a neglected and sad town.
Many of these vacant homes and buildings are owned by out of area banks and speculators that have benefitted directly or indirectly from the taxpayers from TARP and other programs.
The city of Eureka needs the money to maintain essential services and repair the infrastructure neglect of the last 10 years, and the bankers and speculators can afford to pay it.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Well, Bill, I’ll think about your name suggestion.
While I’m in the midst of such a dizzying change, I think I ought to ask everybody here – Do you have suggestions for a pen name for moi that is more appropriate than “The Great Anonymous?”
Say Bill, your Vacancy Tax is a wonderful idea and I think it could actually fly. Surely Heraldo will get the ball rolling by writing a piece about it.
The Grand Anonymous?
His/Her Holiness the Great/Grand Anonymous?
See? This is the reason I decided to post as Anonymous in the first place. The first time you stick your head up out of the gopher hole in Cyberspace, some sarcastic s.o.b. comes along and kicks you!
;>)
I just discovered I’ll need to type in “The Great Anonymous” and my e-mail address every time I want to post a comment.
That seems like a lot of work to go through only to become the butt of Mitch’s warped sense of humor.
Actually there is already a vacant house fee in the municipal codes, the fees just need to be brought into the modern era and the city needs to enforce it and start collecting the money.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
The City brought the rules for parking derelict vehicles on streets into play, so I’ll bet it could take effective action on the Vacant House issue. Thanks again, Bill. Have a peaceful day, yourself!
Best Anon?
A+non?
Commission to develop ordinance for vacant buildings
Kathy Davis
Times Reporter
Buena Vista Planning and Zoning commissioners discussed an option of a registration fee for vacant buildings during the regular meeting at the community center June 2. The planning commissioners are in the process of developing an ordinance to address what to do about vacant and blighted buildings in Buena Vista.
Town planner Shannon Haydin submitted a plan from the United States Conference of Mayors with samples of rules and regulations that could be used to address vacant buildings. The most common practice is requiring registration of vacant buildings. The purpose of a registration fee is that the fee could be used to offset a municipality’s cost for maintenance of a vacant property, she said. One municipality charged $1,000 for a registration fee. The registration fee creates a disincentive for keeping a building vacant, she said. Additional fines could be assessed if the property owner becomes derelict in upkeep, Haydin said. The city of Columbus, Ohio, had a five-pronged attack: prevention, enforcement, acquisition, rehabilitation and demolition.
In Denver, neglected buildings are prohibited, planning commissioner Bill Yinger said. In Buena Vista, all types of vacated buildings, both in the downtown and in other parts of town, should be addressed by town code, Yinger said.
http://www.chaffeecountytimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=5712
Thank you for your respectful suggestions, Mitch. You are now officially off my snit list.
:>)
NCJ and Osborne report Lance Madsen is all but in to replace the equally dynamic Mike Jones for another term on the Eureka City Council. I wonder if saved his signs? “Eureka needs Lance-a-lot!” Funny, that seems a bit like “Hooked on Bass”. What’s with the rednecks and their sharp-object slogans?
“How’s That Recessioney, Oily Thing Working Out For Ya?”
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/29832/hows-that-recessioney-oily-thing-working-out-for-ya
In a nut shell, its about the corporate coup, its effect on the working classes, and the working class people who vote against their own best interests.
Thanks for the link, Jane. I agree with most/much of what David Michael Green has to say, though I think it’s a reach to think everything that’s happened in the past 30 years is a result of a cleverly administered plan.
Certainly the creation of the right wing think tanks helped things along. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there was intention behind the combination of criticizing the “left wing press” while both buying the press and making sure Washington’s “journalists” got a taste of the good life.
The mystery to me is how the right wing is unable to see that the destruction of the middle class will lead to the destruction of their own empires. The rise of middle class prosperity is what enabled the super-rich to become super-rich, at least without needing to live in enclaves protected by machine gunners.
I think, in addition to crediting sophisticated conspiracies, a good deal of credit needs to go to mind-boggling short-sightedness, and shallow thinking along the lines of “I’m OK if the boat sinks, because I’m on the top deck and have my own personal life-yacht.”
The wealthy will be surprised once they discover that their life-yachts won’t have much of anyplace to go that isn’t polluted wasteland, possibly irradiated from war. Does anybody seriously think that China’s army is going to leave the wealthy Western plutocrats in charge?
Have you done much reading about the Council for National Policy, Mitch? Time Magazine called it the most powerful organization you never heard of.
I haven’t, Jane. It’s just that based on my life experience, foolishness explains more than people want to think, and clever plans explain less.
Foolishness and greed, Mitch.
Out in the woods last few days. Creeks look good, lots of ground water this summer. Berries are coming in and the bears are out. Watch out for bees! I think yellow jackets are going to be a bitch this summer.
FYI, yellow-jackets aren’t bees.
they’re not bitches, either.
Myth 3: The U.S. is sliding into “socialism”
For a system allegedly being strangled in its bed, U.S. capitalism seems to be in astonishingly robust shape.
Numbers published by the Federal Reserve a few weeks ago show that corporate profit margins have just hit record levels. Indeed. Andrew Smithers, the well-regarded financial consultant and author of “Wall Street Revalued,” calculates from the Fed’s latest Flow of Funds report that corporate profit margins rocketed to 36% in the first quarter. Since records began in 1947 they have never been this high. The highest they got under Ronald Reagan was 30%.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-three-biggest-lies-about-the-us-economy-2010-06-29?pagenumber=2
Wow,
the news is getting few and far betwen over at the T-S. Terrible articles lately which give little incentive to read their commune blather!
Jeffrey Lytle
McKinleyville – 5th District
HB,
Thank You for the Fascism update!!!
JL
yellow Jackets = wasps or hornets? Most definately a quarantine color.
JL
Mitch,
I believe society IS as a result of a cleverly and masterfully played out plan (remember what tools like the Bible can be???) – it is easy to see for me. The idea for the uber wealthy insiders is to reduce world population (the have nots mostly) which frees up costs (wasted profits in their minds) upon those in society who are GRAFTERS who feel that the “little people” are not needed “en masse” to line their pockets any longer.
Today is the age of MORE WITH LESS! As the uber wealthy watch society from a screen and laugh, I often wonder what the peasants will recollect as their faults!
JL
Heraldo? Anyone? Eureka POZ seems to be kaput.
Can anybody tell me why?
“This year’s poll of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts.”
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0701/nations-leading-presidential-scholars-bush-worst-president-modern-era-5th-worst-history/
Im not sure. The yellow jackets swarm you stinging you repeatedly. On wet years like this they seem to do real well. There is also the bald face hornet, and this little demon hates people and seems to just generally be pissed off. Maybe they are resentful because they dont make the good honey… their sting is way up on the god-dam-it scale.
“…and this little demon hates people and seems to just generally be pissed off.”
Sounds like Homo Sapiens Heraldus
Have you seen those absurd tv ads for Broadview Security? Women are being trained to run to the phone when a criminal invades their home. This is madness. No police department in the world can respond quickly enough to prevent a criminal assault under those circumstances. A woman whose home is invaded needs to go for her gun first and the phone second, after she has the home invader under control.
I don’t believe that most landlords want their buildings to stand vacant but in the commercial sector, it is hard to find a tenant, especially for certain buildings. Some businesses in these difficult financial times have just had to close or keep spending their own funds to try to stay open and that just doesn’t work for long.
The TS has a “breaking news” story on their website about the statutory damages award in the Skilled Healthcare case. It looks like the jury awarded maximum statutory damages of $600 million. I don’t know whether that number will stick, but a quick look at Skilled Healthcare’s total value on the stock market suggests the whole company is only worth half that. Anyone know anything more?
Major human rights victory in Great Britain:
Full story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/07/gay-asylum-seekers-rights-deportation
Probation sentence for Trinidad assaultSean Garmire/The Times-Standard
Updated: 07/17/2008 01:16:21 AM PDT
Two men who pleaded guilty to weapons charges in an allegedly racially motivated assault against another man in Trinidad were sentenced Wednesday to three years probation with no additional time in jail.
They will have to serve 300 hours of community service.
Judge Bruce Watson credited Collin Roczey, 18, and Kevin Walker, 35, for the 60 days they served in jail. However, Roczey’s probation was amended, and Watson stipulated he must complete high school, or a GED program, and become gainfully employed under the terms of his probation.
Both men were charged for court costs and restitution fees.
The two men were originally arrested in May on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault and kidnapping, but pleaded guilty to the weapons charge in a plea deal.
The arrest stemmed from reports three men were fighting in a Trinidad beach parking lot. When authorities arrived, they reportedly found two men fighting another. All were allegedly intoxicated.
Police statements from witnesses describe Roczey and Walker holding the victim down, hitting his head against the ground, hitting him with a metal pipe and stepping on his face while saying anti-Mexican slurs.
As Walker walked from the Humboldt County Superior Court room Wednesday afternoon, he spoke briefly to Roczey, advising him to “take care of yourself, and don’t get in any more trouble out there.”
Sean Garmire can be reached at 441-0514 or sgarmire@times-standard.com.
Skilled Healthcare Group’s stock price declined today from $6 to $1.50 as a result of yesterday’s Humboldt verdict.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Skilled-Healthcare-stock-apf-4156244314.html
Another example of (genuflect here) Capitalism at it’s finest. Thank GAWD Faux News has made (shudder, cringe) Socialism the equivalent of Nazism, Devil Worship and Child Molestation. Otherwise we’d have affordable health care for the elderly, the young, and all our citizens. But no, Skilled Health Care, BP, AIG and Exxon. . .you’re doin’ a great job, Brownie!
Can we get a pledge from DA candidates Paul Gallegos and Allison Jackson to prosecute this Humboldt County Deputy to the full extent of the law if he is guilty of child endangerment? OR IS THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY SHERIFF TOO CORRUPT TO INVESTIGATE ITSELF?
Off-duty Humboldt County deputy, 10-year-old girl hospitalized after July 4 fireworks accident
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 07/07/2010 01:16:02 AM PDT
A fireworks accident Sunday sent a man and a 10-year-old girl to the hospital with serious hand injuries.
The adult has been identified as Joe Marsh, a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Brenda Godsey confirmed Tuesday that Marsh is employed by the department and said that he was off-duty at the time of the accident.
Arcata Fire Department Battalion Chief Justin McDonald said his department responded to a call at about 9:25 p.m. Sunday reporting a fireworks-related hand injury in the Tip Top Ridge area of Fieldbrook. McDonald said fire department and emergency medical personnel were told that the two injured people were driving to meet them and eventually made contact with them on Murray Road in McKinleyville.
McDonald said the injured man and girl were then placed in an ambulance and transported to Mad River Community Hospital and eventually flown to an out-of-area hospital for treatment.
”The adult’s right hand was severely damaged,” McDonald said. “The child’s right hand was wrapped in a sweatshirt … but, from what I heard, (her injury) was pretty severe as well.”
McDonald said it is unknown whether the fireworks involved in the incident were legal. He said the Arcata Fire Department’s role in the incident response was simply to help medical personnel, not to investigate.
CalFire spokeswoman Cricket Baird said if there is a follow-up investigation into the incident, her office would have jurisdiction
and would be the one to conduct it. However, Baird said she did not know if any such investigation would take place.
Mehserle guilty on involuntary manslaughter.
Involuntary? If a citizen pulled out a gun and shot some pig in the back, they’d be convicted of murder. How does Mehserle claim he thought he pulled out a taser and thought Grant was resisting? Shit was on candid fucking camera.
At least there will be a sentence of some sort. Shit was murder. Fuck that white boy jury he got. Like Rodney King, same shit, difference decade.
You are not very nice at all mister.
I can get nice and still think this Mehserle dude is a lying fuck. He wrote that letter of apology and all that shit… Ain’t no apologizing for shooting a restrained man in the back.
I’m happy Mehserle did get convicted of at least criminal negligence. Maybe now cops will think twice about pulling a Cheri Lyn Moore, Christopher Burgess, or a Martin Cotton.
The only thing I don’t like about this case is the gun enhancement. Fuck this gun enhancement bullshit.
And they had a little mini-riot in downtown Oakland… What did folks think was gonna happen when they sent out hundreds of cops in riot gear to harass a regular protest? Of course shit went down. Cops weren’t gonna be able to calm people down when one of theirs was the reason folks were pissed. And fuck that homophobic, anti-property rights Dellums. Worst mayor Oakland ever had and Oakland’s had some hella stupid mayors.
That and the verdict not being guilty of second degree murder.
Excellent essay on the American media.
Right Wing Thought Police – An Analysis
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion/42-42/2402-right-wing-thought-police-an-analysis
Jane,
I would be willing to bet that this statement from the essay is a lie:
“No one seemed to notice that a good many Israeli Jews are in fact going back to Germany and other European countries”
In fact, I’d be curious whether anyone could find even ten Israeli Jews “going back to Germany”.
“A steady trickle has been returning to make use of a law allowing descendants to claim German citizenship.
“Germany today is a haven of peace for the descendants of those who, one day, fled the country because they were in danger,” says Ilan Weiss, who moved from Israel 20 years ago.
“The fact that Jews are coming here again constitutes for Germany a certificate that it is acceptable again.”
In 2008, the last year for which figures are available, almost 2000 Israelis became naturalised German citizens. Two years earlier, more than 4000 did so.
According to the Israeli embassy, around 13 000 Israelis now live in Berlin alone.”
http://news.iafrica.com/features/2501281.htm
http://www.spectacle.org/0501/hathaway.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3558319/Israels-anxiety-as-Jews-prefer-Germany.html
So, any other problems with the essay?
Mitch, my response with multiple links about the large number of Israelis moving to Germany is in moderation, probably due to the links. In 2006 4,000 Israeli Jews became naturalized citizens and in 2008, the last year for which figures are available, 2,000. did and there were 13,000 Israelis living in Berlin alone.
I stand corrected. And surprised and amazed and…
It is somewhat surprising, Mitch. Europe must be attractive to those uncomfortable with the hard right bunker mentality that is ascendant in Israel today.
*as well as the relative safety from terrorist attacks and demographics which show an increasing Palestinian majority.
May be old news to some, but…
http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/03/nasa-giss-james-hansen-study-global-warming-record-hottest-year/
how many anmils died
I do believe that Denver Nelson’s arrogance and need to have the last word might make Planning Commission hearings totally unbearable. I feel sorry for his fellow commissioners.
Redo That Voodoo
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: July 15, 2010
As two very impatient drivers sped past me in the Safety Corridor, I wondered what was so important that they would risk their own lives and mine to save a few extra seconds of travel time. Everyone else on the road was following the speed law. What made them feel themselves immune from the law?
Breaking news: Did Fed Shut Down 73 Thousand Blogs and Why:
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/19/did-feds-shut-down-73-000-blogs-and-why/print/
More details are surfacing about why Blogetery.com, a blogging platform that claimed to service more than 70,000 blogs, was mysteriously booted from the Internet by its Web-hosting company.
The site was shut down after FBI agents informed executives of Burst.net, Blogetery’s Web host, late on July 9 that links to al-Qaeda materials were found on Blogetery’s servers, Joe Marr, chief technology officer for Burst.net, told CNET. Sources close to the investigation say that included in those materials were the names of American citizens targeted for assassination by al-Qaeda. Messages from Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the terrorist organization, as well as bomb-making tips, were also allegedly found on the server.
But Marr said a Burst.net employee erred in telling Blogetery’s operator and members of the media that the FBI had ordered it to terminate Blogetery’s service. He said Burst.net did that on its own.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20010923-261.html
Fred Mangels. This guy tried to start your civil war for you. Why don’t you go in and break him out of jail? He’s your self-proclaimed comrade in arms.
Gunman planned to attack ACLU, liberals
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle July 20, 2010 05:36 PM
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Print E-mail
(07-20) 17:36 PDT OAKLAND —
Convicted felon Byron Williams loaded up his mother’s Toyota Tundra with guns, strapped on his body armor and headed to San Francisco on Sunday with one thing in mind: to kill workers at the ACLU and an environmental foundation, prosecutors say.
Williams, an anti-government zealot on parole for bank robbery, had hoped to “start a revolution” with the bloodshed at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco, authorities said.
But before he made it to the city, Williams was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers for speeding and driving erratically on westbound Interstate 580 west of Grand Avenue in Oakland.
Police say he then initiated a chaotic, 12-minute gunbattle with officers, firing a 9mm handgun, a .308-caliber rifle and a shotgun. He reloaded his weapons when he ran out of ammunition and stopped only after officers shot him in areas of his body not covered by his bullet-resistant vest, authorities said.
Today, Williams, 45, of Groveland (Tuolumne County) appeared in an Oakland courtroom on charges that he tried to murder four CHP officers. Authorities described him as a heavily armed man determined not to return to prison. The suspect’s rifle could penetrate ballistic body armor and vehicles, police said.
After he was wounded by gunfire and taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, Williams told investigators that “his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU,” Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg wrote in a court affidavit.
The foundation has funded environmental and social justice projects since 1976 and also provides philanthropic advice, according to its website. The ACLU of Northern California is based in San Francisco.
“Obviously, we’re dismayed that this has happened, and we’re not really going to speculate about the investigation while it’s ongoing,” said Tod Hill, a Tides spokesman. “We’re taking appropriate safety measures with our staff in mind.”
ACLU officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sheriff’s deputies brought Williams into Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland in a wheelchair today. His right hand was bandaged. He showed no emotion and kept his head down as he read his copy of the criminal complaint. Asked by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers if he wanted to be represented by the public defender, Williams said “yes.”
The complaint accuses Williams of trying to kill CHP officers Vincent Herrick, Richard Coward, Ty Frankin and Todd Owen. Williams was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing ammunition. He also faces enhancements for firing a gun and wearing body armor.
The unemployed carpenter has two strikes on his record – one for a 2001 bank robbery in Madera County and the other for a 1995 bank robbery in Washington state. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of a third strike in connection with the shootout. He is being held without bail.
The FBI joined Oakland police in investigating the incident because a notebook, titled “California,” was found in Williams’ car and removed by a bomb squad robot, investigators said. Authorities did not reveal the notebook’s contents.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/20/MNMN1EHB37.DTL#ixzz0uHCBIFh8
If you’re going to call somebody out by name, 6:36, it seems to me you should have the guts to sign your own name to your post.
Little Modoc County is California’s most Republican county, they voted McCain 61%.
However soon they will vote on whether to create socialized medicine in their little Eden.
The hospital in Alturas is broke. The county is bankrupt. The hospital employs 150 people, the largeset economic engine in the region.
Soon they will vote on a 160 dollar per year parcel tax to socialize the costs of the hospital.
Fascinating.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Oh sorry here’s the link:
http://urlet.com/sparks.ms
You may have heard of the “One Laptop Per Child” program, brought to you by the leading PR firm at a failing imperial power.
Well, here’s the real thing, from a country that still values creativity over theft:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/23/india-unveils-cheapest-laptop
Thanks for sharing that, Mitch. A laptop for every child for less than the price of a single textbook seems pretty incredible to an oldster (pre-computer educated) like me. The boon to education is priceless.
Mitch: Why are you dissing OLPCs? Here’s a bit from Wikipedia on the folks who brought us the XO:
“The One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc. (OLPC) is a U.S. non-profit organization set up to oversee the creation of an affordable educational device for use in the developing world. Its mission is “to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.”[1] Negroponte states that the mission is to eliminate poverty.[2] Its current focus is on the development, construction and deployment of the XO-1 laptop and its successors.”
Leading PR firm at a failing imperial power? They may have collected some corporate sponsors, but I don’t think they’re about theft. I had one, and they’re pretty amazing, and there’s a worldwide network of geeks and others working for free to develop new programs and uses for it.
You’re welcome, Jane. And it’s more than just education. Cell phones have revolutionized the economic relationship between rural farmers and artisans and the middlemen who buy their production. How? By equalizing the information each side has about price. Truly affordable computers have the potential to do similar things, but with even greater impact.
People will talk about how “underpowered” these inexpensive computers are. In computerworld, though, that just means they are five years behind the leading edge.
Walt,
Oops. I had no intent to diss OLPC. I was dissing the Media Lab at MIT, and Negroponte.
Damn I want an Android tablet with solar power. Fucking India.
The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here%27s-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=DJI,GSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA
Dummy Big Rig Driver possibly takes out a power pole which causes a chain reaction of 6(?) poles being pulled down to the ground by the transmission lines. Power out for many around School @ Washington, Bugenig, down to the freeway, etc…
JL
“No new mosque should be allowed within 50 miles of that site. Or in that state or in this country for that matter, until those who planned 9/11 are dead, and their murderous jihad has ended forever.”
From Rose’s new blog.
http://thecoffeeshopblog.blogspot.com/
“No new mosque should be allowed within 50 miles of that site. Or in that state or in this country for that matter, until those who planned 9/11 are dead, and their murderous jihad has ended forever.”
From Rose’s new blog.”
I suppose freedom of religion only applies to so called christians…
It’s nice to know that Rose is one of Jackson for DA’s insiders. Real justice.
No surprise there! Rose and her “Watch Paul” blog…
Jackson has to be one of the most unethical political candidates I’ve ever seen. Her attacks against Gallegos are unfounded and very dirty.
Rose would support Satan himself if he had a chance at defeating Gallegos…
That blog ain’t new.
I can understand opposition if someone went a put up a building that invoked the image of the perpetrators of 9/11. But nobody is about to build a Prairie Chapel Ranch or miniature CIA and Mossad headquarters at ground zero.
Boycott Home Depot!. Oh, wait a minute.
Thanks for bumming me out. I hope some of that is poorly represented statistics.
http://catalogliving.tumblr.com/
“A look into the exciting lives of the people who live in your catalogs.”
Nothing curbs the desire for gay sex like gay marriage.
Why do all these lying politicians keep starting their sentences by saying “Well, the fact is…” ?
The same reason why when people debating on blogs start a sentence with “So what you’re saying is…” approximately 99.9999% of the time, what follows bears no logical relationship to what you’ve been saying.
Simpler answer: Because lying liars lie.
Allison White, with her 7/29 T-S article about the purchase of Jefferson School, did a really good job of softening Eureka up for the Glass – Brady contest. After White’s less than unbiased article, you’ll never convince me that today’s letter to the editor by Kelly Baker is just a coincidence. Does the T-S have “grovel to the powers-that-be” as one of their qualifications to be hired there?
Defining Prosperity Down
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 1, 2010
I’m starting to have a sick feeling about prospects for American workers — but not, or not entirely, for the reasons you might think.
The important thing is that the good people, the white, rich conservative (D and R) people who rule this country have never had it so good. . .and things are getting better. When you have the disconnect between Bill and Hillary with their hundreds of millions and those with nothing, when the people who run the country are all millionaires, how can you expect them to see, much less understand, that the people have no bread to eat? The poor will always be with us, they say. . .just a little more numerous.
I see Ryan Sundberg’s name on Allison Jackson’s Facebook page, courtesy of Rose’s Blog, WatchPaul.
Ryan Sundberg? The drunk driver?
For Allison Jackson? The hard-nosed crime fighter?
Heraldo!??? What gives???
And Sundberg wasn’t just driving drunk, which is bad enough, he was driving with a blood-alcohol level or .16, meaning he was driving while completely shit-faced. He also tried to minimize it by noting that it was “just a few miles.”
Imagine the outrage from Rose and Allison Jackson if it had been Gallegos who blew a .16 and then tried to keep it quiet, then whined about “dirty politics” when it finally came out. Those two would have been shouting from the rooftops that Gallegos should drop out of the race, yet when it’s Sundberg, well, then it’s no big deal apparently.
Chiang orders California cities and counties to report salaries
from Capitol Alert by Dan Smith
In the wake of the pay scandal in the city of Bell, state Controller John Chiang today ordered cities and counties to report to him salaries of top elected and appointed officials.
Current law requires cities and counties to report summary financial information to the controller each year by Oct. 15. The new rules Chiang announced today will expand that reporting requirement, allowing the salary information to be posted on the controller’s website in November.
The Presidential award to Betty Chinn (and others) will be on the net at 11am, at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
How about we publish the salaries of all city employees who make over 75k in Eureka?
It would be fascinating, considering the median income in Eureka is below 20k.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Hi Bill,
The city of eureka publishes the payscales for all positions on its websites. I also believe that if one makes over 100k, then that information is available to the public.
Hi,
I do see the wage scales for the two open positions, Finance Director and Dispatcher. Where are the other wage scales posted?
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Hello Bill,
Here you go:
http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=2730
Look under Human Resources, then click salary schedule.
BTW, I believe the Median income for Eureka, which was around 25k in 2000 is estimated to be around 32k right now.
Thanks,
I will check it out.
BTW, the listed salaries of around 70k for a finance director and around 40k top end for dispatcher seem reasonable to me, especially here in California. Possible that the bennies might be excessive, hard to tell but I have no prob with the salaries of these two.
I am in favor of working people making a decent living.
I will look up the median income, as I thought it was less than 20k. Maybe you are talking about median household income instead of individual income? I could be wrong, you might be right.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
For anyone reading this thread who is interested in becoming Eureka’s next finance director, the deadline is Friday. Here is the link:
http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/ and click on employment opportunities.
You will have to have some major job skills as the departing city manager has left the city with a big hole in its pocket. Kind of like what George Bush left Obama.
Sorry.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Environmental Resources Management
1277 Treat Boulevard, Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
(925) 940-0455
(925)9 41-9968(fax)
28 June 2010
Ms. Caryn Woodhouse
Staff Environmental Scientist
Regional Water Quality Control Board
North Coast Region
5550 Skylane Blvd., Suite A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Subject: Response to California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region (RWQCB), Letters of 19 April and 14 June 2010 Regarding Stormwater Issues at 736 Broadway, Eureka, CA Case Number INHU064
Dear Ms. Woodhouse:
ERM-West, Inc. (ERM) has prepared this letter on behalf of CUE VI, LLC, in response to the RWQCB letters of 19 April and 14 June 2010 regarding stormwater issues at the former Balloon Track Rail Yard, 736 Broadway, in Eureka, California (site). Specifically, this letter is intended to meet the requirement for a submittal no later than 1 July 2010 that describes our plan for controlling stormwater discharges from the site. As discussed on our phone call this past Monday, our conceptual approach is to manage stormwater on site. We intend to do this by permanently closing the two current discharge locations and taking advantage of the natural site topography and infiltration to retain stormwater on the site. The plan will also incorporate features to handle excess stormwater during storm conditions. As we discussed, we are developing the engineering details of our plan to share with you as we move forward, so that we will be prepared to implement a solution by 15 October 2010, as required by your letters. The specific elements of the conceptual plan to control stormwater at the site are as follows:
o Close the two pipes that discharge stormwater from the site. These pipes are at Station D, and a location on the southern edge of the property that discharges into the City of Eureka Stormwater Line on Washington Street. We are exploring the most effective and efficient way to accomplish this and will propose a specific methodology for your consideration.
o Redistribute and infiltrate water from depressions on the site to higher elevations that can handle more stormwater. As discussed, the natural topography causes stormwater to drain and collect in areas of lower elevations at the site. We are exploring the best methodology to redistribute some of this water to the higher elevations of the site, which will allow natural infiltration to progress at more areas within the site.
o Evaluate interim storage of stormwater at higher elevations within the boundaries of the site. This will be based on our engineering evaluation of the amount of stormwater that is generated on site. If necessary, we may construct temporary aboveground stormwater holding areas that would release water back to the site for infiltration after specific storm events subside.
o Discharge excess stormwater to the City of Eureka POTW during times of non-peak flow. This would provide more storage capacity on the site between storm events if we are not able to handle the volume of water through the temporary storage and recirculation/infiltration process described above. We are currently investigating this option with the City of Eureka.
o To the extent required, establish berms at the perimeter of the site to decrease runoff from adjacent properties onto the Balloon Track site. If appropriate, we will identify areas where existing berms need to be modified or new berms constructed to decrease this type of flow onto the site.
o Perform an engineering evaluation for the site in conjunction with all the above elements to ensure that the proposed solutions will work and are appropriate for the site.
We believe that the conceptual plan described above will be effective in controlling stormwater discharges from the site and is consistent with best practices for management and natural infiltration of stormwater at the site. As indicated in our conversation on Monday, we are currently developing a detailed plan for implementation, and will be ready to discuss it with you as we move forward.
I will call you by 19 July to give you a progress report, select date for a face-to-face meeting, and establish project deadlines. In the meantime, feel free to contact me with any questions that you may have.
Again, I thank you for talking with me on Monday. We look forward to continuing to work with you in addressing the stormwater issues presented in your letters of 19 April and 14 June 2010.
Sincerely,
Mark E, Ransom, P.E.
Principal
Bill if you wanna talk REAL money, how about this: There are 403 billionaires living in the US, according to Forbes (magazine).
We can have a positive discussion.
Let us imagine that some smart attorney general prosecuted Lee & Mann for their crimes and won a $10,000,000 judgement from Lee & Mann to be paid to Humboldt County and used for economic development.
How would you spend it? Let’s hear a few ideas how you would spend ten million to ramp up the local economy.
You do a few then I will do one or two. Let’s have some fun and think inside outside and all around the multidimensional “box.”
have a peaceful day,
Bill
I would buy the old drive-in/rv lot and install a family fun center. A real video arcade with new and classic games, pinball, skeet etc…; 18 hole mini-golf with 9 indoor holes; water slide; bumper cars; cart racing; carousel; roller coaster; Bar and Grill; and train rides.
How about buying the old triplex theater and turning it into pot grow rentals with a zillion solar tubes for natural light?
“…with a zillion solar tubes for natural light.”
How about growing cannabis in greenhouses or outdoors…all the natural light without the expense and inefficiency of “a zillion solar tubes?” Or does that just make too much sense for a culture that prefers expensive, inefficient gadgets over common sense practices?
While you’re at it, you could have giant indoor cannabis grows under expensive lights in warehouses, then put solarvoltaic panels all over the roof. Catch the sunlight, convert it to electricity, store it in huge battery arrays, channel it into powering growlights, and use those growlights to provide light to the plants and power to the pumps and timers on the hydroponic setup. Heck, you’d only lose what, like 80 or 90% of the power of the sunlight to waste and inefficiency, maybe 95% when you factor in the production footprint of the solar panels, batteries, lights, hydroponic setup, liquid fertilizers, etc.
With a greenhouse you’ll lose maybe 1% of the sunlight, maybe 5% overall when you factor in the production of the greenhouse materials, organic fertilizers and soil conditioners for the soil. But no gadgets — we can’t have that!
Bill,
What exactly were Lee & Mann’s “crimes” that they would somehow lose a 10,000,000 judgement for?
Lee & Mann exported tens of millions worth of pulp product and used the proceeds to build new mills in Asia while leaving their suppliers, their workers and environmental fines unpaid. That kind of deliberate misappropriation of funds is a form of theft.
Attorney General Jerry Brown should launch an investigation of Lee & Mann and Evergreen Pulp and all the individuals involved and prosecute them.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
I was thinking about secure grow houses, TRA; but the triplex might also make a good site for light industrial manufacturing.
Where is the triplex? At Bayshore Mall?
I like the idea of Bolithos for a childrens amusement park and the old drive in is in a good location.
But, are the RVs in there occupied? If so where would the people live who would be displaced?
Another problem is that we are looking for economic engines for the county and amusement parks while they can be popular and fun generate mostly low wage jobs I think.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
So essentially Bill, they have pulled up stakes and left the US altogether?
I dont know enough about the situation, but at first blush it seems like an AG to go after a company thats bailed the US; even if they won a judgement, it would be next to impossible to collect.
“Launch an investigation of Lee & Mann, and Evergreen Pulp and all the individuals involved and prosecute them”.
Prosecute “all individuals involved” – who? That’s a pretty wide swath you are cutting when you make such a broad based statement.
The state, in the current fiscal bind its in, has no money or time to go after people on a witch hunt.
What exactly do you alledge, and please be specific, as far as things that could actually be prosecutable, as opposed to some company that pulled up stakes and left.
Not to mention the inclement weather here which isn’t really compatible with outdoor amusement parks.
What I mean, Bill, is what people do you think should be “investigated and prosecuted”?
Rex Bohn? Bob Simpson? Richard Marks?
The triplex is out by the drive-in, an empty movie theater.
If the AG can determine that funds were deliberately misappropriated to fund overseas operations while running the Samoa Mill into bankruptcy, that would be fraud and the individuals who were responsible should be prosecuted. Even bankrupt companies can’t do that.
Lee & Mann still have one asset in the US for sure and that is the Samoa Mill. They (or Worthy Pick) hold a note for however much the Simpson group owes after their down payment. That note is certainly attachable by the State of California (or anyone else who wins a judgement against Lee & Mann or Evergreen.
Isn’t it time that the community stands up to a company that took millions of $ out of it and left nothing but anger and despair behind?
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Ah OK sure that seems like a good spot for light manufacturing.
I have done a lot of reading about Humboldt economics lately, and of course the pulp mill. One comment from someone leaped out at me on some thread, it was:
“Beer, beer,beer, beer” and the poster made the point that our local water system produces the same amount of water that is used in the entire US beer industry each year.
Which tells me that we might be in a natural area for breweries, as well as being in a natural area for growing marijuana and redwoods.
We already have some microbreweries in the area, so we would have to be careful not to damage the existing businesses, but it is possible that if we parlayed our good water into a few more microbreweries maybe we could become the Napa of breweries and at the same time the Napa of MJ.
It is possible that the existing breweries therefore might benefit from having a few more here, and they might also benefit from cooperative marketing and distribution.
Breweries offer a wide range of blue and white collar jobs and since they are actually producing something of value wages tend to be higher.
Its worth thinking about, but it would need the cooperation of our existing brewers.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Below is from Richard Marks blog, another person who shares my view that Lee & Mann are criminals:
“In short, Lee and Man Paper purchased this mill and had 100% of the pulp production barged to their plant in China. For a couple of years they paid Evergreen Pulp (owned by Lee and Man) for this product. When the pulp market softened, they spun Evergreen Pulp into some sort of offshore corporation. They withheld payment for the final load of pulp, essentially breaking the company and then sold what was left. It is a crime in my eyes, but I understand these type of business tactics happen from time to time. In all of the bail out stories and appropriation of funds I thought there may be something that our government could do to protect these folks from an economic catastrophe. A catastrophe cause by a company that is still doing business in the United States and caused devastating effects in a small community like Humboldt County. Liz, I truly appreciate you conveying this story to Mike and I hope that there is something that he can do.
If you need any more information or if there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to call.
Thank you.
Jeff Pauli
Western Self-Insurance Service
619 5th St.
Eureka, Ca. 95501”
http://samoasoftball.blogspot.com/2009/03/evergreen-pulp-workers-screwed-again.html
Something from Richard Marks himself:
“California Redwood (CR) and other vendors locally put lien on Evergreen assets and Humboldt County Judge Brown hold up shipment of pulp to Lee Kwok. CR claim that Lee Kwok, a subsidiary of Lee and Man owes Evergreen Pulp 20 million dollars that ended up in Lee and Man’s coffers. Some agreement financially is met so ship can leave.”
http://samoasoftball.blogspot.com/2008/12/evergreen-terminates-all-group.html
There is plenty of prima facie evidence of bankruptcy fraud to at least conduct an investigation!
have a peaceful day,
Bill
P.J., fields and greenhouses can also be secured — fencing, gates, alarms, and so on…naturally it may be easier to secure a solid building than a field or greenhouse, but as the price continues to drop, and the ease of growing your own continues to increase, I’m hopeful that eventually we won’t need to have Fort Knox-like protection for a simple plant crop.
I believe that the Drive-In with the RVs that has been referred to is the old one at Indianola Cutoff, behind Cash & Carry. And no, those RVs are not occupied.
Not that I’m really all that excited about an amusement park / “family fun center” at that location, but I would have to say that our weather, at least in the summer, is really not very “inclement” at all. The fact that we have virtually no rain from mid-June to mid-September would be quite helpful for the outdoor attractions at such a place.
There are a lot of amusement parks on the East Coast that have warmer weather but also afternoon thunderstorms or even all-day rain and/or drizzle on some summer days, which really puts a dent in their business on those days. But o course our relatively cool weather would probably rule out “water park” features!
Lets keep the brainstorm coming…..
Everything you have mentioned doesn’t answer the point that even if the AG won a judgement, there would be nothing to collect on.
Keep throwing stuff out there Bill, someday maybe something will stick, though its doubtful.
Bill, are you going to apply for the Eureka Finance Director position? You should; you’ve got management experience.
Blaming Tyson for the financial state Eureka is in is ludicrous though; the responsibility for that lies directly on the shoulders of the council and mayor, who four years ago, all ran (Jeff, Larry,Mike & Virginia), and won on a platorm of increasing the pay, benefits and size of the police and fire departments.
When elected, they kept this promise; the only problem was that they had no means of paying for these staffing and salary increases, in fact the mechanism by which they were going to pay for these increases was never implemented (a fire suppression assessment district).
By the time they put something into place (an increase in the sales tax, to replace the sunseting utility users tax), it was just in time to see the state and local economies collapse.
Tyson is no innocent, but to place the blame on his shoulders, because you dont like his politics, is silly.
Attention Heraldo & HH readers:
A Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy shot and killed a man along 299 near Blue Lake earlier today. The man had attacked another man, the Sheriff’s Dept. was called, and four sheriff’s deputies showed up at the scene.
According to witnesses, the man who was attacking the other man at one point had a rake and was beating him with it; however, witnesses say that when the sheriff’s deputies arrived, the attacker did not have the rake, but was shaking the victim. Again, according to witnesses, within seconds of their arrival on the scene, one of the deputies shot the attacker 6 times, killing him on the spot.
To be clear, I received this report second-hand, from several people who talked to directly to the eyewitnesses immediately after the event. I have not yet heard the deupties side of the story, or an explanantion as to why deadly force was used.
Okay, the Times-Standard has an account of it up, which includes the deputies’ version of events:
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15705477
Of course I don’t know what actually happened, and whether it was closer to what the witnesses told my friends, or closer to what the Sheriff’s Dept. apparently told the reporter.
However, one glaring inaccuracy in the story was that the man who was shot and killed was described as an “unidentified” man. His first name was Robert, and while I personally do not know his last name, I do know that members of his family were called to the scene shortly after the shooting, saw the remains, and talked with investigators. So maybe the police didn’t release his name to the newspaper, but he has certainly been identified.
It may be that other family members had not yet been notified, and therefore the police and/or newspaper withheld his name for the time being.
To Anon Aug 5 10:15
No I am not going to apply for the finance director job. My health is not conducive for working even an office job anymore, though I am mentally competent and have management experience. I even considered running for council myself this time, but my health problems simply ruled it out.
I am not one of the people who says David Tyson is stupid or incompetent. On the contrary he is intelligent and competent. It is not personal either, Tyson has always been civil to me in person and I respect that, and even though I have been calling for his resignation, I have been civil to him as well.
Yes you are correct that the council voted 5-0 to give the massive unfunded raises to the EPD and Fire a couple of years ago, a fact that I mentioned right here a couple of weeks ago in the Jager thread. Yes it was Glass, Kerrigan, Endert, Jones and Leonard who voted for unfunded raises, based on the hope that the funds would somehow materialize. It was a perfect storm of Lawn Order Democrats meeting right wing Republicans. You are correct, Glass especially ran on the platform of increasing funding for the police. He was keeping his promise to the voters, so why beat him up for that, even if I disagree? I was there that night to speak against the raises. It was the right wing in this city who were there in force to support the raises, even though they were obviously unpaid for.
The problem is that this trainwreck was headed our way more than two years ago, before even the raises were handed out, and Tyson was aware of it, and has done nothing. He has continued to support frivolity like the Zoo and funding for the Chamber of Commerce and the wreck of the good ship “Redevelopment.”
It is Tyson’s politics that have thwarted the real economic development of the city. He has channeled millions of dollars of redevelopment money into schemes like the first time homebuyer program and all of the halfway houses that are blockbusting the west side. He has done this to support the small group of rich developers and realtors at the expense of the vast majority of people here who need living wage jobs and affordable housing.
Redevelopment money should be used to build a manufacturing economy here that will pay taxes to the city and provide living wage jobs to the citizens, not to enrich a few real estate speculators and motel owners. Redevelopment money should be used to build affordable housing. That will create construction jobs as well as alleviate some of the homeless problem.
The money that has been poured into the first time homebuyer program alone is a scandal of millions of dollars that has benefited less than a hundred people.
This is not government for all, it is government for the few.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
You could finance the whole operation at Bolithio’s Family Fun Center with a hippy/reggae festival once a year.
Speaking of which, what do people think about a Reggae on the Bay event for people who love reggae but can’t handle the chaos and crowds at the river festivals?
Reggae Off the River?
have a peaceful day,
Bill
At this time of solemn sadness about the way the Japanese Empire made it impossible for President Truman to do anything other than drop the atom bombs on Hiroshimo and Nagasaki to end World War II, I wonder, did the Japanese Empire ever apologize for the 1937 Rape of Nanking or the forced prostitution of thousands of women to “service” the soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II?
America Goes Dark
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 8, 2010
“So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we’ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.”
Slavery returns to the US:
“If BP’s use of prison labor remains an open secret on the Gulf Coast, no one in an official capacity is saying so. At the Grand Isle base camp in early June, I called BP’s Public Information line, and visited representatives for the Coast Guard Public Relations team, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Louisiana Fisheries and Wildlife Department. They were all stumped. Were inmates doing shore protection or oil cleanup work? They had no idea. In fact, they said, they’d like to know—would I call them if I found out?
I got an answer one evening earlier this month, when I drove up the gravel driveway of the Lafourche Parish Work Release Center jail, just off Highway 90, halfway between New Orleans and Houma. Men were returning from a long day of shoveling oil-soaked sand into black trash bags in the sweltering heat. Wearing BP shirts, jeans and rubber boots (nothing identifying them as inmates), they arrived back at the jail in unmarked white vans, looking dog tired.”
http://www.thenation.com/article/37828/bp-hires-prison-labor-clean-spill-while-coastal-residents-struggle
the 99ers:
Unemployment is at crisis levels unseen since the Great Depression. Government, even local government needs to step in with direct employment of the unemployed before millions of lives are damaged forever.
In Eureka redevelopment money can be used to build affordable housing and to start building an industrial base. That will provide jobs right now and will not add to the deficit.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
Source:
http://www.marad.dot.gov/news_room_landing_page/news_releases_summary/news_release/MARAD_13-10_Marine_highway_Projects_release.htm
U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Announces Corridors, Projects and Initiatives Eligible for Funding as Part of America’s Marine Highway
WASHINGTON, D.C. (8/11/10) – Just four months after unveiling the America’s Marine Highway Program, a new initiative to move more cargo on the water rather than on crowded highways, U.S. Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood today announced his selection of marine highway corridors and an initial eight projects and six initiatives along the corridors that will be eligible for federal assistance under the program.
The Department’s Maritime Administration chose the projects and initiatives from 35 applications submitted by ports and local transportation agencies.
“Making better use of our rivers and coastal routes offers an intelligent way to relieve some of the biggest challenges we face in transportation –
congestion on our roads, climate change, fossil fuel energy use and soaring road maintenance costs,” said Secretary LaHood. “There is no better time for us to improve the use of our rivers and coasts for transportation.”…
West Coast Hub-Feeder Initiative (Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District): this initiative will examine the feasibility of an intermodal distribution network served by a Marine Highway service along the coastlines of the states of Washington, Oregon and California.”
No better time than for us to Save Richardson Grove!
I was in the hills behind Ferndale yesterday and saw the strangest plane. It almost looked like it was one of those airforce re-fueling planes with a smaller plane getting fuel, but this was much smaller. I also couldn’t tell if it was actually two planes, but there were defiantly two sets of wings. It seemed low, or at least just as low as our commuters fly. I couldn’t hear it, but we were logging so I couldn’t hear shit anyways. It could have been a drone. Ive heard that people have seen a weird jet flying down redwood creek last few years, maybe this was that same one.
Down by the Eureka Small Boat Basin, I see some pretty strange-looking craft from time to time. Model airplanes, it turns out.
Some of you may have heard of the mysterious huge conglomeration of trash that exists in the Pacific Ocean. Like an island, estimated to be as “big as Texas”…
A good relatively short and entertaining documentary:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/toxic/toxic-garbage-island-full-length
The Mirror seems abandoned for the weekend:
Union Pacific Corp.’s quarterly profit climbed 53% as the company posted volume growth for a second consecutive period.
The railroad company also notched freight revenue growth across all business segments.
Union Pacific posted a second-quarter profit of $711 million, or $1.40 a share, up from $465 million, or 92 cents a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier results included a gain of 14 cents a share related to a Colorado land sale. Operating revenue climbed 27% to $3.96 billion.
America becomes stranger all the time.
One way I know this: Every new TV program is advertised with the breathless phrase: “Oh – My – God!”
Did you feel it?
Just now, for me, anyway, the earth moved.
Not much, though.
My good friend in Manila tells me that the land owned by the Manila Community Services District (MCSD) is being mismanaged because the trees in dune territory are gradually dying off as a result of the removal of plants, i.e., invasive species, such as exotic grasses. Maybe MCSD should set up a citizen-advisory group to look into it, and get some soils-program grad students to investigate, too. If the dunes are being damaged by human activity, MCSD should be concerned about it.
OK. Now tell me you didn’t feel THAT earthquake.
I live in central Eureka. And it was one pretty darn powerful shake. So far just one.
You are not alone, 2:06.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/nc/71444785/us/index.html
This is weird. I heard lots of sirens a few minutes ago and just now heard about 6 what sounded like high powered rifle shots and just now 5 or 6 more. Maybe Elk River Valley or Ridgewood?
A bunch more shots.
Maybe it was a bear.
Thats exactly what I was thinking!
But I thought it was illegal to arm bears!
Assuming somebody does something with the Balloon Tract, what happens to the dead locomotives? And the freight cars? Do they have to pick them up and return them to their rightful owners? And, if so, why didn’t they do that 10 years ago?
It’s easier for the Walmart/HomeDepot lovers to make the “something has to be done to clean it up” argument if there is a visual eyesore. Dioxin and groundwater and PCBs have too much detailiness to sway the simple-minded.
You know, there are city regs against the sort of graffiti-laden rusting hulks the rail equipment represents, but Rob gets a pass on removing this nearby-property-value-decreasing shit pile year after year. I suppose all the neighbors are counting on old deep pockets Rob to make them a good payday if the project goes forward, so they are afraid to say anything about the hit their property values are taking lest they offend. Ironies. I say send Chief Garr down there with a ticket book.
“Maybe it was a bear.”
There has been a large black bear roaming around close to houses. I saw it a couple of weeks ago.
I am a bear, a jolly old bear
and I live like a Royal Turk,
And I bum all my chuck
And I have all the luck
And to Hell with the bear that works!
Nothing on Eureka’s new ill worded smoking ordnance? Lets argue about that one!!
Word.
Heraldo tried to argue the smoking ban on the boardwalk was not an excuse to sweep rollie-smoking homeless people off the boardwalk. Now that the shit bans walking down the fucking street pushing a shopping cart to the recycling center smoking bogeys, is this still not targeting homeless?
The city should just make it illegal to be homeless and hand out tickets 24/7.
just got a phone call from a contact in ft bragg who heard on kzyx that the willits bypass project has been shut down due to permits and funding…
At least we still have the zoo.
Eureka depositions retrace police investigation; officials’ testimony shed light on harassment allegations, ensuing ‘global’ investigation
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 09/01/2010 06:00:33 AM PDT
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15959931
I get a kick out of people who think being business-friendly is the same thing as being worker-friendly. Aren’t these local businesses the same ones that are holding down the wages of our local workers to the point that they can’t afford to pay these local rents to keep local roofs over their families’ heads?
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Thu, September 02, 2010 — 11:51 AM ET
—–
Coast Guard Says Oil Rig Exploded in Gulf of Mexico, A.P. Reports
An offshore oil rig exploded on Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill, the Coast Guard told the Associated Press.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said that the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company on Thursday morning. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/02/us/AP-US-Gulf-Rig-Explosion.html?emc=na
If it takes too long to write, is it still a quick note?
I wish it didn’t lump heroin and cannabis together, but here’s a great “crazy furners” story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/portugal-drugs-debate
I wish it didn’t lump heroin and cannabis together, and I wish it didn’t complain about the beautiful city of Amsterdam, but it’s still a great “crazy furners” story.
Apparently Portugal began treating drug addiction as a medical condition ten years ago. The country still manages to function.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/portugal-drugs-debate
Meanwhile, in the mainstream media, we are all being led around by the nose by “our betters” on the TV news. They know a lot more than we do. That’s why we don’t have to learn anything for ourselves anymore. We can just accept whatever they want us to think as if it were our own. Robots! Land of the UnFree and Home of the Know-not Robots! That is what we have become.
Of course, I meant to write “the Know-Naught Robots!”
It does make more sense that way, doesn’t it?
And I forgot to mention that our blogs let us do end runs for Freedom of Thought and Expression around the Masters of Thought Control in the Main Stream Media. So, after all, there is Hope.
Thank God for Capitalization!
And Caffeine!
A letter in the Times-Standard today reveals some strangely inconsistent thinking. Patricia Nance Daly begins her letter by demanding that America become a democracy, not a republic. She goes on to end her letter by demanding that American uphold the Constitution.
It can be one or the other, Patricia Nance Daly, but it can’t be both at the same time.
Patricia Daly is the tea party in a “nut” shell. Uninformed, illogical and pissed off.
Hmmm,
what about a Democratic Republic where the majority CAN NEVER DENY a Constitutional Right based on part historical human rights and part social agreements that correlate to human rights.
Jeffrey Lytle
McKinleyville – 5th District
ACV Airport Blues is a for all of you weary, frustrated travelers that have passed through or attempted to pass through the Eureka-Arcata Airport and have not gone unscathed: flight delays, cancellations, or re-routing. We believe there needs to be a positive change at ACV; a fully functioning airport that recognizes the vital role that it plays in the life of our local Humboldt economy; one that values the residents and businesses that rely on this important transportation link.
To join us:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=158449234169895&v=wall
I just have to vent about the parking situation for those of us who try to eke out a living while working in downtown Eureka. I work in an older building that has no parking of its own. Those of us who work in said building, if we want to park nearby, have to play a bullshit cat-and-mouse game so as not to violate the 2-hour parking limit. I’m in my 50s and work upstairs (there is no elevator) and the nature of my business requires me to heft heavy boxes of books up and down from my car-thus, parking many blocks away in a residential zone is difficult. Despite my best efforts to move my car every two goddamned hours, I’ve managed to line the city coffers with all sorts of citation money over that past year–because I get sort of tied up WORKING MY ASS OFF. And guess what…the cost of a parking ticket just shot up from $23 to $35. I guess SOMEONE has to pay for Eureka’s many lawsuits, eh? And meanwhile, the county has downtown parking lots out the wazoo for their employees. THANKS A PANTLOAD, DEAR CITY OF MINE.
I think you should bring your concerns to the Eureka City Council by speaking during the public comments part of one of their regular Tuesday night meetings.
You ought to know your message will be heard by the people in the City Council chamber and also by people who watch the meetings on Public Access Television. Maybe you will find other people who share your concerns.
Worth a click:
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0915-kiribati_interview_anote_tong.html
ACV = Airport Closed, Virtually.
So pleasing to find a notice in the mail from DMV saying I could renew my license with a phone call. I’ve been on hold now for an hour. I hate the canned music they have chosen for me to listen to.
The old way was better. It would still take over an hour in line down at the DMV building, but at least there, you could strike up conversations with strangers and make fun of the burro-cracy.
Better yet, when a real person answered the phone after the long wait, she told me the DMV does not accept payments over the phone!
Why didn’t they say that on my renewal notice and save me that hour?
Damn!
Wal-Mart to aggressively roll out smaller stores
Wal-Mart to aggressively roll out smaller stores in urban areas to revive US growth
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/WalMart-to-aggressively-roll-apf-63555426.html?x=0
Gosh Jane. Do you work? Or just blog?
Gosh leg humper, it’s none of your business.
ha! your leg humper is somewhere else tonight, I guess. I just noticed you are on this blog constantly. you have unlimited time to blog. you must work for the government. our tax dollars at work, sigh.
The only way to note that someone is constantly on a blog is to be constantly on it yourself. Dont you love a paradox!
Hah! Good point, Bolithio! I suppose you could just review posts and make the accusation – but I doubt that’s the case, given the timing of the posts.
Or maybe I’m just a fast reader, thinker and typist and can post a few comments a day and still make a living? Ya think?
Word.
I suppose someone *could* just go online for an hour or so once a day for a few weeks and scroll through all the comments on all the threads and take note of which folks commented most and how often they did and then whine about who comments “too often” and speculate about their employment and life circumstances…but that would be well into leg-humper territory, in my humble opinion.
Kirk Girard pulls eminent domain on Cutten resident over Ridgewood Village Project
http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com/2010/09/kirk-girard-pulls-emminant-domain-on.html
LWV candidate forums according to their website:
On October 4th the forum for Eureka City Council Wards 1 (Glass vs Brady) and 3 (Kuhnel vs Manns vs Newman) is being “cosponsored” by Rotary Club of Eureka.
Also on October 4th the forum for 4th District Supervisor (Neely vs Bass) is being “cosponsored” by Humboldt CPR.
On October 5th the forum for 5th District Supervisor (Cleary vs Sundberg) is also being “cosponsored” by Humboldt CPR.
On October 11th the forum for Eureka Mayor is being “cosponsored” once again by Rotary Club of Eureka.
The League of Women Voters seems to be in the process of being taken over by the Borg. All but one of the League-sponsored candidate forums that has a listed cosponsor on their website is being sponsored by either Rotary Club of Eureka or Humboldt CPR. The only cosponsor of an announced forum that seems like the sort of nonpartisan organization that should be cosponsoring with the previously nonpartisan LWV is the Mel and Grace McLean Foundation, which is cosponsoring the forum for the Fortuna City Council (pick three from Glaser, Glennie, Egger, Losey, Long, Mulholland, Alexander and Ash) race. Who’d a thunk that only Fortuna would be able to resist the Borg?
What’s next? Measure N debate cosponsored by Security National? DA debate cosponsored by Rose’s blog? These relationships with local business/developer agenda driven organizations seem to me to violate at least the spirit of the League Nonpartisan Policy regarding visibility and not publishing. I’m assuming Humboldt CPR will have their groups name prominently featured at the event. Doesn’t that seem visible?
Tonight!
I pay over a hundred dollars a month for TV via cable and I can not find this important debate on my TV. Damn! But I can and did find the debate on NPR. God Bless National Public Radio!
But you get all those incredibly important reality shows, Ragtime. Stop bitching! :P
My complaint is this: Important debates that affect millions of Californians are not considered important enough for Humboldt County’s cable TV providers to make available to us.
Are you siding with the powerful media forces that are trying to keep us too ignorant to make intelligent choices at the ballot box?
Or are you just in one of your moods?
P. S. I hate “reality” shows.
So all in all I thought it was a decent debate and Brown won hands down. Whitman’s complaints about union support of Brown was handily disarmed by Brown when he brought up who funded her campaign. He will be tough in negotiations with unions while the main plank of her platform is tax cuts for herself and her supporters which will come right out of school budgets and working class wages.
Sarcasm doesn’t work well in text, but :P is laughter with tongue sticking out. I rarely watch any TV but have noticed that reality shows are just about the only option these days. Channel after channel of Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Survivor, Top Model, Real crazy housewives, home improvement, infomercials and cooking shows. Cheap programming that drugs the masses, encourages consumption and makes them hungry. What more could you want?
I consider those shows inane, but I can almost understand why people watch them. The only other major type of programming on TV is the Death-Centered programming, which is everywhere. I think it’s designed to scare us into obeying authority figures for fear of the chaos the ruling class wants us to think awaits us just outside our doors.
By the way, did you ever notice that “Cops” is a “reality show” but the fat old cops always catch the young athletic criminals? I wonder how they do that?
It’s the modern version of the Roman circuses and gladiator “games” to keep the masses docile. The increasing popularity of ultimate cage fighting makes me think a lot of people aren’t satisfied with bloodless “reality” and I fully expect a lot more violence in reality programming in the future.
Agreed. American culture is still too puritanical for actual erotic tv content, but violence? Oh, yeah. Bring it on.
Remember the “Running Man”?
I know people who will not miss a rerun of law and order.
I would take well written fiction over faux reality every time. But good shows are expensive and it seems the American public is willing to waste their time on drivel so why waste the money on quality? McTV!
Though a bit more cynical on my part, I feel the viewing public demands that drivel. I agree. Give me well structured fiction, a well written documentary or a real news outlet not typically found in the general cable TV packages.
The role of such obviously biased organizations in “co-sponsoring” debates raised by 06em are alarming and cast a long shadow over their objectivity.
Add corporatocracy to an idiectorate (see above) and whaddya get? TEA PARTY! Don’t touch that dial.
For the nerds:
This week Lucasfilm announced that all the Star Wars movies are going to be re-released in 3D. We have just one question: why?
Well, OK. We know why. Lucas obviously needs money to buy, I don’t know what. The island of Tahiti? The Red Sox? His own Ice Planet? Who really knows how much money one actually needs, but Lucas apparently needs more and milking the Star Wars franchise for every drop it’s got is obviously the way to go. (Live action TV series coming soon! More Clone Wars episodes! Blu-rays!) He obviously ain’t going to make another dime out of the Blu-ray Special Edition of Howard the Duck . . .
In Lucasfilm’s statement no specific release date is given, except for 2012 when The Phantom Menace will hit screens in 3D. The rest of the movies will be released annually thereafter at the more or less the same time of the year, depending of course on how well Phantom Menace (or Episode One as it is also known) performs at the box office. This means that Star Wars, or Episode Four, won’t be released until 2015, Empire Strikes Back in 2016 and Return of the Jedi in 2017.
Why so long? Apparently it’ll take a year to convert each movie and George Lucas is personally supervising each conversion. (Apparently he was convinced by the 3D processes of Avatar and the increased availability of digital 3D movie theatres to go this route.)
John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic, explains that “getting good results on a stereo conversion is a matter of taking the time and getting it right.”
And: “It takes a critical and artistic eye along with an incredible attention to detail to be successful. It is not something that you can rush if you want to expect good results. For Star Wars we will take our time, applying everything we know both aesthetically and technically to bring audiences a fantastic new Star Wars experience.”
Sure, it makes sense to convert Star Wars to 3D. They are all special effects movies that lend themselves to it. Imagine zooming down the trenches of the Death Star . . . in 3D! But unfortunately Lucas will most likely re-release the tinkered with “special edition” versions of the original three movies instead of the original theatrical films. Imagine Greedo missing Han Solo at point blank range . . . in 3D! Imagine Hayden Christensen pouting . . . in 3D!
The point is however that we’re sick of 3D. The best 3D movie you’ll ever see is your very first one. Thereafter it is just a case of fidgety glasses and overpriced movie tickets.
Besides that, we’re also sick of Star Wars, of George Lucas re-releasing the same old movies every few years in some supposedly new format. If we have to watch Yoda die in Return of the Jedi one more time we’re gonna hurl, I swear. And the less said about the Ewoks the better! Can’t Lucas think up something new for a change? (Although the last time we asked this, he came up with The Phantom Menace – so skip that one . . .)
Point is that we’ve seen these movies so many times throughout the years that we’re literally tired of them; no matter how great they were back when we were 10.
Also, 2D to 3D conversions sucks. If a movie hasn’t been filmed in 3D in the first place, converting it to 3D afterwards to cash in on the latest Hollywood trend just smacks of avarice. (Recent examples include the lousy 3D in Clash of the Titans.)
There. We’ve said it. The key word is “avarice”. And unless George Lucas plans to donate his gazillions to the poor or something we can’t be arsed with any new version of Star Wars . . . even if they do beam it straight into our mind’s eye from the fourth dimension or something.
CNN is running a series every evening this week about Bullying.
I care about Bullying because I was its victim from the age of 6 through 14. And because many gay kids are being driven to suicide by bullies right now, all these years after I was bullied, taunted and beaten for being different, being gay. Today, I am astonished and grateful that a major news organization is telling the tale that these young people have until recently been too powerless to tell themselves.
I was ten when relentless bullying by students who called me “queer” led me to seriously consider suicide, with a butcher knife in my hand. Reasoning that things couldn’t get any worse, and they might get better, I decided not to kill myself. But I remember my pain and how hard it was for me to make up my mind to live or die.
Today, I want all the gay kids, the ADHD kids, the asthmatic kids, all the picked-on and bullied kids to know they can overcome the hell they are being made to live in. They can overcome.
But how can I let them know it? How can I and other gay adults reach out to tell young gay people that life does not have to end during the worst period of their lives, in torment and sorrow?
Columnist and author Dan Savage has set up a web site – ItGetsBetterProject.com – where gay adults are sharing their experiences with gay youth via YouTube. This gives gay kids (and their parents, if they are supportive) the chance to listen to gay adults tell them the message: It Gets Better! This is the life-affirming message the kids so desperately need. And the gay adults who participate in the project are free to tell how they achieved happiness in spite of all the efforts of the bullies to torment them.
Any gay kid who needs to hear a message of Hope can now go to ItGetsBetterProject.com. Any parent who is supportive of their gay child and wants to know for a fact that it is possible for a gay child to grow into a happy and productive gay adult can and should now visit ItGetsBetterProject.com.
I believe loving people of all faiths, races, ages, political persuasions, income levels ~ in other words of all kinds and types of loving people ~ will want to take this information and share it widely.
These kids sometimes find themselves abandoned even by their own parents. This information can help them overcome even that.
If any young gay person is thinking of suicide and needs to talk with someone right now, they can call:
The Trevor Lifeline: 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386).
It is Toll-free, confidential and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I hope someone notices Ragtime’s message before the week is over and the CNN series on bullying ends.
The costs of rising economic inequality
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/05/AR2010100505535.html?hpid=topnews
Thompson lauds harbor efforts, announces federal grant for shipping study, cuts ribbon at C Street Square
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_16266397
“Today, I want all the gay kids, the ADHD kids, the asthmatic kids, all the picked-on and bullied kids to know they can overcome the hell they are being made to live in. They can overcome.”
Ragtime,
Thanks for that post, and especially that paragraph.
– TRA
You are welcome, TRA! Your appreciation for what I wrote warms my heart.
While I have your attention, let me mention my admiration for the way you have applied intelligence, education, and civility to your contributions to the Humboldt Herald.
I’ve always wanted to do a gas price alert, so here goes. They all go up at the same time, of course (coincidence, you bet) It went up today by 6 cents: $3.24 to $3.31.
Hover your cursor over any avatar and watch it pop-up with extra info (if any is available) on the person making the comment. Is it obnoxious? Does it get in the way of using the ‘latest comments’ widget?
7:30 KEET/KHSU.
STATS on the crime rates in Humboldt County from the California DOJ
http://stats.doj.ca.gov/cjsc_stats/prof08/12/1.htm
Right-wingers refer to the new Health care legislation as ObamaCare. We know that is the language of right-wing nut-jobs.
But how many of us realize the profoundly unpatriotic spin they are giving us with their referral to that LAW as the health-care BILL?
After a BILL has been passed by CONGRESS and signed into LAW by the PRESIDENT, it is a LAW ~ NOT A BILL.
What Bass says about the timber industury:
“I pledge to be available to hear concerns of the industry and act upon those concerns.”
“At the state level I will advocate for the removal of legislative barriers that increase the cost to operate and impair the ability to effectively compete.”
Good for Bass, a rare insightful moment for her. Too bad more of our leaders don’t share this view.
Wow, Ryan Sundberg “has already created hundreds of jobs”. No wait, that’s 250 jobs. No wait, he only did it as part of a council that included, one presumes, other people. How incredibly lame.
The “barriers” that Bass refers to were created after the cut and run legacy that governed the timber industry for decades. Those barriers did not stop many of the timber companies and mills from closing. They closed simply because of the supply and demand of timber. We over cut and are out sold by third world countries. Take a look at an aerial view of Green Diamond or former Pacific Lumber land and tell me we have to many barriers on timber harvest.
This just in:
“Witnesses praised the efforts of several bystanders who subdued a a gunman who fired on a elementary school playground in Carlsbad, Calif., slightly wounding two children. The witnesses also said the unidentified suspect was ranting about President Obama when he opened fire at Kelly Elementary School.”
Apparently a couple of construction workers tackled this moron and disarmed him “with extreme prejudice.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/school-shooting-suspect-got-street-justice-witness-says.html
Among the candidates who attended the “Stand Up to Youth Suicide” rally at the Courthouse yesterday were Bonnie Neely, Virginia Bass, and Allison Jackson. The crow was very large. Hundreds of people driving their cars past the Courthouse honked their horns in support. Only one yelled a negative remark.
Speakers addressed young people now living in hellish isolation and fear because they are being bullied due to their real or perceived differences from the norm. Speakers shared our own stories of the suffering we had endured – and the personal triumphs that had followed when we made the choice NOT to end our lives.
People listening there were both those who have been targets of bullying and those who are coming out now as allies of the bullied. The speakers urged the listeners to do something, take some action, to help get the message out to the young people who are most at risk. We learned that high school students are 4x more likely to be bullied than their straight peers and that LGBTQ kids from families where they are loved for who they are commit suicide 8x less often.
This problem is affecting some kids right now in our own Humboldt County schools. All children and teachers need to be taught not to look the other way when bullying happens. They need to realize that bullying can be as devastating in elementary and middle school as it is in high school.
Unless more people encourage all youth and all teachers and administrators (and dare I say all parents?) to become “peacemakers” we will continue to see the lives of vulnerable young people made into a living hell. The price society pays for damning these kids to loneliness and isolation can affect them for the rest of their lives – damaging their ability to trust and communicate with others – and so, damaging our society by cutting it off from the creativity and energy these young people should by rights be able to offer the world at large.
I said it CAN damage kids for the rest of their lives. But it does not have to steal their happiness from them.
Even for kids who are living in despair right now, whether they hear this message on YouTube or from a friend, parent, teacher, coach, or fellow-student, I hope they hear this message:
Whether you find your strength to overcome the bullies within yourself or by asking for the help of others, you can have a better life than what you have had so far. It gets better. Much better. Please keep yourself safe. There is a world of people you will eventually find who respect you for who you are.
And remember, that apllies to you whether you have been bullied and tormented because you are LGBTQ or perceived to be LGBTQ – or whether you have been bullied and tormented because of any real or perceived difference between you and the bullies.
Your life is precious. There is only one of you in the world. You are here not just for one reason, but for many, many reasons. People who you haven’t even met yet will look to you for advice some day, maybe even about how you survived the bullying that today seems to overwhelm your life. So have faith in yourself and the future, please!
I would hope that Heraldo would run your comment as a post Ragtime.
When I say Thank you for caring, Goldie, it is from my heart. I am sure Heraldo cares, too. Keep your eyes open for good things to come.
I may not have seen every candidate who attended the rally. If anyone saw a candidate there whose name I did not mention, please let us know.
I understand, for example, that while Peter LaVsllee may not have been at the rally, his whole career has involved service to others. The Raven Project that is protecting LGBTQ youth in our community would not exist if not for his leadership and courage in the face of old, mean ways of thinking.
Also, I appreciate the comments about “It Gets Better” who add to our understanding of the candidates.
It is We the People who must reach out to the people who are most alone and sad. As the last volunteer speaker said, simply giving a person a smile can tell them, while I was in despair, your smile tells me I am human, that someone recognizes me at some level of being worth something. And that can be enough to save a precious human life.
October 13 – 7:30 p.m. – Supervisorial District 4 with Bonnie Neely (incumbent) and Virginia Bass
October 14 – 7:00 p.m. – Eureka City Council with Ward 1 – Larry Glass (incumbent) and Marian Brady. Ward 3 – Xandra Manns, Ron Kuhnel and Mike L. Newman
Federal judge issues injunction today, 10/12:
PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense, their agents, servants, officers, employees, and attorneys, and all persons acting in participation or concert with them or under their direction or command, from enforcing or applying the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Act and implementing regulations, against any person under their jurisdiction or command;
http://www.scribd.com/doc/39200189/Don-t-Ask-Don-t-Tell-CA-Ruling
Splendor in the Grass
The San Francisco Patient and Resource Center, or Sparc, is not your average pot club. There’s no peephole or scary-looking security guy, no skunky couches or blackened windows. Instead, a collegiate ‘‘community liaison’’ stands by the door answering questions from passers-by and checking membership cards and paperwork. (There’s no fee to join, but you need a doctor’s recommendation to enter.) And with its minimalist oak tables and benches, and jazz on the stereo, Sparc could easily be mistaken for a Japanese teahouse. Welcome to the medical marijuana dispensary of the future.
link
Eureka High was on lock down this morning, just ended a few minutes ago. The story, as told to me, is that there was a high speed chase which ended in a crash and the suspect was thought to be on campus, possibly armed. They kept all the kids in their classrooms until it was safe, thankfully, but they all missed lunch. No word about the search for the perp.
I live in that neighborhood. Usually, it’s quiet here. The sounds of such a chase would have freaked me out. As it happened, I had left my home a few minutes earlier to visit one of my kin in Fortuna. So I wasn’t freaked out and Plain Jane’s “heads-up” was the first news I heard of it. Thank you, Jane!
Frank Jager is doing ads for Virginia Bass? WTF?
Excellent piece on income inequality:
This is excellent, Mitch. Thanks for sharing.
Perhaps you missed this news: BPA — the plastic in many bottles — is toxic if you cross the border into Canada. Fortunately, it’s still non-toxic in the US and much of Europe.
That’s good news, Mitch. It’s amazing how politics can protect us from toxins. :P
PJ,
Canada is an example of what happens when you don’t have a Department of Homeland Security. The bottles turn into poison.
The Eureka City Council Forum (LWV/KEET) was an interesting format. I grew tired of the each-of-five-persons-answer-the-question-in-revolving-order but it did lead to a couple of very good discussion points about the city. When asked about the first thing he would do to attract business, Larry said the first step would be to do something about the tweaker motels. As he explained it, a company looking to locate in Eureka sends an advance scout here to check if all the beautiful online pictures of the bay and Old Town and redwoods give a true picture of Eureka’s reality. That scout gets about halfway down Broadway, sees the core of tweakerville, and looks for a safe place to turn around as they speed dial corporate to tell them to scratch Eureka off the list. Larry’s idea is excellent.
The second point, brought forth by Xandra or Ron I think, and related to cleaning up Broadway, is that Eureka has no … I think they called it intake. The idea, one that Arcata uses, is to have a system whereby a homeless/addicted/runaway street person is evaluated and given the right sorts of help in an organized and focused way so that the end result (individualized to the person of course)is a contributing member of society.
Both of these ideas were generally well received by the rest of the candidates and good discussion ensued. I hope these concepts will go further than just that single nights discussion.
Maybe we should enlarge Homeland Security so explosives aren’t deadly as well, Mitch.
You only get 60 seconds, and the “intake” idea was from Xandra. And a very good idea it is. Larry was spot on as well. I covered other ground, as there are dozens of things we can do to attract business, but both these are excellent ideas.
Jeffrey:
By being so unclear in your comments (maybe you think of it as being playful or entertaining or clever) you turn readers off to the point you are making. I now find myself jumping over Henchman posts because I haven’t the patience to decode your comments. I don’t think I’m the only one doing this. I read and commented on your post on the Glass thread this morning (or I should say skimmed your post) because it was so freaking long. It took up more space on my screen than everything else before it … including the original post. It was just too egregious for me to not say something.
I mean you no ill will. I hope you will take this criticism in the spirit in which it’s intended. If you respond to this, I hope you can do it here in Quick Notes instead of further de-railing the Glass post.
‘Bout time. A reggae song for gay rights:
SMOKEMASTER, with infinite respect, please allow me to make some observations and offer a recommendation to you.
1. Forego utilizing ad hominem attacks; instead provide well-reasoned arguments: BECAUSE SUMMARILY DISMISSING and calling well-reasoned analyses “jumbled ramblings” ― WITHOUT providing thoughtful discussion of your own ― is indicative of closed-mindedness.
2. I am a PARANOID schizophrenic. Therefore, as I said, you should NEVER TAKE ANYTHING I WRITE PERSONALLY. BECAUSE GENERALIZED ANALYSES ARE NOT PERSONAL, STEREOTYPICAL ATTACKS on you, or any other reader.
3. But now, I do want to offer to you some personal recommendations.
First, I want to be honest with you, SMOKEMASTER ― I am always honest, Sir.
When I said:
You have “A heart full of simple emotions and a head full of equally simple ideas” [Hofstader], I was making an off-the-racket-ball-wall remark ― an intuitive response ― BECAUSE I never read anything you have written, other than the statement:
“ SMOKEMASTER: I HATE to say it but asb2525 may be worse .“ [Emphasis added.]
Please let met de-construct the statement-to-response reaction, SMOKEMASTER.
(a)
SMOKE = BLACK.
MASTER = SLAVEHOLDER.
Therefore, SMOKEMASTER connotes racism.
(b) Starting the FIRST SENTENCE (or any sentence, for that matter) with “I HATE . . .” is counter to your, my, and the ethical and moral precepts of the liberal Democratic Party and progressive Green Party.
Indeed, just one of the bumper stickers I obtained at Democratic Party Headquarters and distribute free-of-charge is, “HATE IS NEVER A PART OF FAMILY VALUES!”
To summarize, Friend, I suggest that you utilize a better connotative tag or nom de plume.
Also, I accord with ERIC KIRK’S recommendation:
“Eric Kirk says: [Gallegos/Jackson topic]:
October 18, 2010 at 11:37 pm
“[…] you could simply disregard the issue entirely and focus on [the vitally important] other issues of the campaign.” [Brackets added.]
In this context, WE should focus on substance, not on process.
Finally, Sir, [I trust I can refrain from calling you “SMOKEMASTER”], I want to repeat what I said earlier, and which I truly mean, BECAUSE I am ALWAYS truthful, Friend:
I trust that these, and future, words and analyses will be received with the same sincere motivational intentionality with which they are intended.
Thank you and respectfully yours, Friend.
I Just saw a presentation on Smart Meters by PG&E, they have been taking a bad rap up and down the coast, here’s my 2 cents.
Smart Meters Matter
Smart Meters are about gathering data, using feedback, engaging and empowering ratepayers and ultimately creating a more efficient generation and distribution system.
We are running out of cheap oil, drilling off shore and for natural gas, building pipelines and mining coal to satisfy our insatiable appetite for energy.
Right now, demand from the grid fluctuates like a sine wave, PG&E has to have capacity to produce all the way to the tips of the peaks otherwise we suffer brown outs and rolling black outs.
The smart meter is the first step in flattening out the peak, it is means to instantly assess demand on the grid so we can respond immediately.
The idea is to chop off the peaks through conservation and energy efficiency and supply some demand for the remaining peak with renewables, primarily solar.
A generator produces most efficiently at full tilt boogie, if we can flatten out that curve by changing our consumption then we can run less power-plants more efficiently.
Smart meters are actually an elegant solution to flattening that curve; demand response pricing, AKA peak day pricing can work as both the carrot and the stick. If you choose to get creative, use your smart meter to figure out what you use and when and how you can modify your consumption patterns to have the least impact on the grid at peak you will be rewarded with a cheap energy bill, then you can implement solar renewables and sell back electricity at top dollar reducing the payback period for your system.
It’s new, many of us are resistant to change, this is going to require users to be interactive, take a role of responsibility, and become more engaged with their consumption patterns. Embrace it, it empowers you, gives you choices.
Personally, I am meeting with a local electrician and we are putting a kill switch for my house at the front door. We will leave 2 breakers hot, one for my fridge which will be on a timer and one for my security system, cats heating pad and front porch light which will be on a photo sensor. Now when I leave for work I will use virtually nothing and when I implement solar, my meter will spin backwards during peak.
Smart Meters are about knowing what you use, when you use it, what it is really going to cost and engaging you in the solution. It is better to become proactive now then to wait for peak day pricing and get hit with the stick.
PG&E put me on the list, I want my smart meter!
Heidi Benzonelli
Environmental Resources Engineer
Energy Consultant
Oh yeah, we torture prisoners.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks
I can’t wait until next Wednesday, the day after the elections. I don’t hear or see ads on the media, but the eye pollution with signs is horrible, and PJ and HiFi are even more shrill. Maybe we should go back to monarchy. . .with the new CEO class, we’re almost there.
Heraldo,
here is a link for ya :)
tax percentages on income-historical
Regarding transfers of wealth discusiions.
JL
GREAT article on The New York Times slanted coverage of Wikileaks (and on today’s press culture in general).
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/10/27/burns/index.html
pot poll with an interesting spin
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2010/10/25/new-poll-stealth-voters-pushing-prop-19-to-win-56-41
Thanks for the post.
Brilliant work by Greenwald, Mitch. Thanks for sharing. It’s a disheartening reminder that even the “liberal” NYT has sold out to power but also that independent media needs our support now more than ever.
@ Big Al: thanks for the link.
WTF?
link
Speaking of press culture, you have to admit Citizens United was a major boon for the media. How are they going to fill the Journal and TS (and HH!) after next Tuesday?
As always, The Guardian offers slightly edgier coverage of America than our own “free press.”
Caution: not for the severely depressed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/oct/29/younge-america-great-divide
well, that was scary.
I predict an increased risk of domestic terrorism if Sharon Angle looses to Reid. And it would not be about that health care thing either.
I just watched the LDS Church vs Arcata Design/Historic Review. LDS wants to raze their old church in Arcata and the review board recommends turning them down, forcing them to “do something” with it. It’s pretty interesting. What in the world could they do? It’s zoned residential. All you can do is pretty much a school or a church. I think their hands are tied and those two who voted to deny them are completely unrealistic. Another reason why it’s hard to fix up a property in Arcata and sometimes Eureka.
there are about 6 women at the corner of Bhune & S
with “yes on N” signs since 7:30am.
one woman was shaking what her good maker gave her, funny way to support a ballot measure and could cause an accident at a busy intersection…
I will try to get a picture if she is still there shakin’it at 8:30
What people will do for a big box –
was that a busty intersection you say?
now there are at least a dozen and it has caused some traffic problems I observed.
that is a busy intersection anyways and this isn’t helping, I hope calm down after the school traffic slows…
Are they in Walmart Spandex? Just imagine what that would do for the already bleak viewshed! bbbbbbbbabbby
Joel was there for balance, or cause the wimmins were there???
Harvey Harper died today, aged 92.
Marijuana: A Chronic History starts on the History Channel at 9pm.
Oakland riots.
Fuck that shit. Push over some BART trains and set those bitches on fire. Time to do some donuts in the substation parking lot.
AG’s Office leaves rape case dismissal in place; attorney general finds Gallegos’ office did not abuse discretion in handling of case that became campaign issue
link
Charles Blow’s column this morning is about the political cleavage in the US.
link
The comments are better than his column, particularly comment #2
link
The “haves” purchase the government through campaign contributions, campaign spending and outright bribes to craft policy ensuring they remain entrenched. They have also purchased most of the media and the mouthpieces employed by it to control what information the lesser educated “have-nots” receive.
The “have-nots” are so thoroughly indoctrinated they have been taught to reliably vote against their own economic self interests, so the “haves” never lose their advantage and thereby remain entrenched in power.
Add the cleavage to that and you have the portrait of a country circling the drain.
“The “haves” purchase the government through campaign contributions, campaign spending and outright bribes to craft policy ensuring they remain entrenched. They have also purchased most of the media and the mouthpieces employed by it to control what information the lesser educated “have-nots” receive.
The “have-nots” are so thoroughly indoctrinated they have been taught to reliably vote against their own economic self interests, so the “haves” never lose their advantage and thereby remain entrenched in power.”
Add the cleavage to that and you have the portrait of a country circling the drain.
Bill Moyers pretty much says democracy is doomed:
http://www.truth-out.org/bill-moyers-money-fights-hard-and-it-fights-dirty64766
Moyers, “I must invoke some statistics here, knowing that statistics can glaze the eyes; but if indeed it’s the mark of a truly educated person to be deeply moved by statistics, as I once read, surely this truly educated audience will be moved by the recent analysis of tax data by the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. They found that from 1950 through 1980, the share of all income in America going to everyone but the rich increased from 64 percent to 65 percent. Because the nation’s economy was growing handsomely, the average income for 9 out of l0 Americans was growing, too – from $17,719 to $30,941. That’s a 75 percent increase in income in constant 2008 dollars.
But then it stopped. Since 1980 the economy has also continued to grow handsomely, but only a fraction at the top have benefitted. The line flattens for the bottom 90% of Americans. Average income went from that $30,941 in 1980 to $31,244 in 2008. Think about that: the average income of Americans increased just $303 dollars in 28 years.
That’s wage repression.”
What happened in 1980?
It’s going to be OK Turtle, a long row to hoe. Start hydrating!
Moyers quotes Howard Zinn, ““The Constitution gave no rights to working people; no right to work less than 12 hours a day, no right to a living wage, no right to safe working conditions. Workers had to organize, go on strike, defy the law, the courts, the police, create a great movement which won the eight-hour day, and caused such commotion that Congress was forced to pass a minimum wage law, and Social Security, and unemployment insurance….Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel and violate the law in order to uphold justice.”
That’s what I’m talking about people. The only way to take our country back is to stop giving our money to the businesses that are buying our government.
“organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel and violate the law ”
off the blog and into council chambers , supervisors chambers, water board, planning commission, harbor commission, seen and heard, speak out, common message, organized and clear….let’s do this
off the blog and into council chambers ……………..let’s do this
when/ where is the first meeting?
Plain Jane,
One indicator of businesses that care about our local economy is the HumIBA sticker in their storefront window. I don’t think all of the owners vote progressive but they do care about keeping business local and their money in our local economy.
HumIBA is the local equivalent of the CoC. See
http://www.humiba.org
HumIBA is an anti-democratic scam run by DemocracUnlim with ZERO control of the organization by its own business members (unlike the Chamber).
Al, :)
Are you saying the majority of COC members decided to donate funds to the national COC and their deceitful attack ads, 11:28? Did they also vote to endorse and donate to the Arkley / Crawford slate of candidates local, national and statewide? Did they vote to endorse Measure N?
The obvious political bias of the Local Chamber is precisely why I am not a member and if not for that bias I would love to be a member of the Chamber, at face value I think it is a great clearing house for travelers and a wonderful way to promote local business. I would be sick to my stomach right now if I thought either one penny of my hard earned money went to support this purchase of our local system OR if my business could be construed as a supporter of that purchase.
I have my criticisms of the Chamber too Jane, especially on the national level. But here locally, the Chamber is run by a Board of Directors elected entirely by local Chamber members.
HumIBA, unlike other Independent Business Alliance outfits across the country, is run by a self-selecting clique of DemockerLimiteed insiders with absolutely no member vote or voice in decisions.
In other words, HumIBA is a fraud, a fake, and a pathetic imitation of successful IBAs in other communities, all to perpetuate yet another false front for KaitSB/DaveCob and the rest of those control freaks (whom I’m not even allowed to spell out the full names of since CobHeraldo has the auto-blockers up).
So Anonymous 12:13 seems like an easy comment to confirm or deny. What is the voting mechanism within Humboldt’s IBA? Anyone care to comment?
It gets worse Mitch. Just because I’ve dared to vocalize some disagreements with Cobsickles’s intolerant behavior, my ‘free business listing’ was totally deleted from HumIBA’s “Local Options” website/guide. Making it fairly obvious that this is a DemocUnlimitd political operation, not a fair listing of local businesses.
I don’t like the Chamber’s politics. I would like to support a real coalition of local businesses that value a strong regional economy over big-box vampirism. But HumIBA has failed the smell test repeatedly. We need a real local business alliance that doesn’t play KaitSB/DaveCob’s control freak games.
Well, if HumIBA is a democratic organization and the officers have offended many of their members, run against them for its board. If it is not a democratic organization and they’ve offended many of their members, start your own and let people know they can vote for their representatives.
I believe (but I’m not certain) that if they are a 501c3 nonprofit they are required to have bylaws available for public inspection.
I understand concern that IBA is administered by a norganization not the businesses that sign up to be on the list.
But isn’t it better for a ‘third party’ to run an organization that assembles a list of local businesses and presumably verifies it? Otherwise theres no independent regulatory oversight and you’re back to the CoC problem, members running an organization to promote public policies that benefit themselves and harm their customers and employees.
I don’t know that the IBA screens their members for anything other than that they are locally owned. I think businesses owned by extreme conservatives(like Security National and Maples Service could be on the IBA list if they applied. So, being on the IBA list isn’t a ‘certification’ that the owner isn’t an extreme Tea Partier. But right now, the IBA list is perceived as an ‘alternative’ because its populated by businesses that downplay any connections with the Chamber.
Of course theres a linkage with Democracy Unlimited which implies something. But I don’t know what that ‘something’ is, other than supporting the organizers of DU. And that seems to get into feelings about the individuals and their personalities.
I don’t know much of anything … about the HumIBA, other than what David and Kaitlin presented on their talk show in the past.
I do think that David, Kaitlin and the DUCK HOUSE — whom I deeply respect for David’s ebullient personality, articulation, and extremely accurate anlayses — are what I would call “insular.”
Either that; OR DUHC dropped everybody from their weekly e-mail list (except during the annual fund-raising); OR with the arrival of new neat interns, DUHC simply stopped distributing weekly e-mail update notifications to everybody. What do I know?
In any case — and I presume We will find out which it is pretty quick — this friend of the DUCK HOUSE has ALWAYS found David and Kaitlin to be generous and gracious host(ess)s, and extremely intellectually elucidating!! (And THAT is something noteworthy, BECAUSE the current analyst is admittedly and consciously exceedingly critical.
It is SO rare and gratifying to be complimentary in this aberrational culture on this clearly dysfunctional Planet — which David and Kaitlin so assiduously and patiently are trying to progress — much like the Abolitionist Movement, the Suffrage achievement, the Labor Union accomplishments, the Civil Rights legislation of 1964, and the Feminist installations since the 60’s!!
HEY ETERNALLY CURIOUS INTERLOCUTORS!! I SAW THIS GREAT SHOW ON UCTV, BERKELEY THIS MORNING ABOUT COSMOLOGY — THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND FATE OF THE UNIVERSE!
Here is some “finite but unbounded” enlightenment, if you’re interested and since you’re infinitely inquisitive!!
NOVEMBER 6, 2010
PRÉCIS OF
I.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
“DARK MATTER” AND “DARK ENERGY”
AND
II.
THE EVIDENCE AND PROOF
OF THE DISTINCTION
1. DARK MATTER = the GRAVITATIONALLY ATTRACTIVE FORCE, (therefore, massive particle-based), causing the (gorgeous, diamond-ring-like) Star Clusters revolving around the entire galaxy to move faster (the velocity) than they should — based upon the known mass of the galaxy.
Instead of “Dark Matter,” it should be called “Attractive Force,” for clarity.
2. DARK ENERGY = the REPULSIVE force that causes the space between the Super-Clusters of clusters of galaxies to expand or stretch, at an accelerating vs. decelerating rate.
NOTE::— “Acceleration” and “Deceleration” (or change in the velocity of an object) necessarily imply a “force,” just as the increased velocity of the aforementioned Star Clusters implies the gravitationally (attractive) force, BECAUSE of Newton’s Second Law of Motion::—
F = ma,
where F = force; m = mass; and a = acceleration.
Instead of “Dark Energy,” it should be called “Repulsive Force,” for clarity.
3. PROOF OR EVIDENCE THAT THE SPACE WITHIN SOLAR SYSTEMS OR BETWEEN GALAXIES IS NOT EXPANDING, UNLIKE THE SPACE BETWEEN SUPER-CLUSTERS OF CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES::—
(a) The Andromeda Galaxy, 2.2 million light years away from the Milky Way galaxy, (and Our nearest galaxy outside the Local Group of galaxies), WILL COLLIDE with the Milky Way galaxy, X millions of years from now, NOT get farther away from Us.
(b) The space between the Moon and Earth, (again, a gravitationally attractive and, therefore, bound system) is NOT expanding, BECAUSE the Moon will also eventually collide with the Earth, BECAUSE of “Orbital Decay.”
4. PROOF THAT THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SUPER-CLUSTERS OF CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES IS EXPANDING::— The observed “red shift” of the light = photons = electromagnetic waves, emanating from the distant Super-Clusters is increasing toward the red end — rather than the blue end — of the electromagnetic spectrum.
QED
FASCINATING QUESTIONS [NOTE::— These questions were directed to a graduate friend.]
Remember to ask me about the applicable, easy-to-see, and easy-to-understand, formulae (e.g., Hubble’s equation) proving that the space between the Super-Clusters is expanding faster than the speed of light — although — again! — nothing physical — nothing of material substance — is moving faster than “c”::— i.e., the Super-Clusters continue to move at the same velocity whether the Universe is expanding or contracting.
Inquire, since you are interested, what did Einstein mean when he stated that the Universe “is finite but unbounded,” even if the rate of expansion of the Cosmos is accelerating exponentially!!
Over and out, Graduate!
YOUR FRIEND,
asb2525, B.A., B.S.I.E, B.M.
Signed,
Sir Issac Newton, About 1700, “Newton’s Three Laws of Motion”
Dr. Albert Einstein, 1915: “The General Theory of Relativity” and “Einstein’s Cosmological Constant = Λ”
Edwin Hubble, About 1927: “The Red Shift Expansion of the Universe”
Dr. Alan Guth, MIT, 1979: “Inflation, about 10 -19 seconds after the Hot Big Bang”
XXXX?, About 1985: “Dark Matter” [XXXX research required]
YYYY?, About 2009: “Dark Energy” [YYYY research required]
So let’s praise Dav/KaitlSB hospitality and ignore the anti-democratic way in which HumIBA is ‘administered’ completely outside the same ‘local democratic control’ that DemocrLimitd preaches for the rest of us?
But Mitch has a great suggestion. Let’s splitsky from HumbIBA immediately and do something authentic in support of ALL local businesses.
I respectfully immediately notified the DUCK HOUSE about this posting. And am awaiting David’s, Kaitlin’s, Jared’s, and the new keen Intern’s responses!!
Give them time!! David is even often out of town, flying around, getting fatigued, giving motivational, well-articulated presentations.
I STILL want to know whether yours truly got dumped from DUHC’s weekly e-mail distribution list, or whether DUHC just stopped distributing it wholesale, without notifying me (or maybe I missed the notification).
Anyway, I can’t add anything about “do[ing] something authentic in support of ALL local businesses,” except to strongly censure the CCOC — the CONServative Chambers of Commerce. [I can’t temporarily locate — I think it was MITCH’S — thoughtful instructions about how to underscore here on this blog!]
You really think DemockLtd Incorporated needs to be “notified” of what’s on Heraldo? After all the two are pretty much ZERO degrees of separation.
I have yet to see you produce any study that shows Home Depot pays the average employee less than Pierson’s does.
Till then, all you’re doing is repeating cliches’
This is rich! The Discovery Museum has a sign in their window to “shop local”. Aren’t they supporting the Marina Center and, in turn, a Home Depot? What hypocrisy!
If Home Depot does become a reality I wonder if today’s preschool Discovery Museum patrons will approve of their parents’ decision to opt for a Home Depot on a parcel that has so many better uses. Of course, they may just be happy to have a part-time, minimum wage job there so they can afford a room with a hotplate and feel themselves fortunate to have a roof over their heads.
Onward with the transfer of working class wealth to billionaires!
Capleton is appearing at the Red Fox Tavern Saturday. Capelton’s lyrics call for the torture and murder of gays. How many Humboldters will attend this concert unaware or unconcerned about this hatemonger’s history and his continuing refusal to abide by his agreement not to perform the offending songs again?
I’m surprised to see that Jack Durham wasted a whole page of the McK Press this week to print all the Gallegos campaign people’s LTE edits. Not sure what the Big Deal is exactly, especially from the same reporters who declared Ryan Sundberg DUI and 3 years’ probation a non-issue, but I used to think Jack was above the fray when it comes to lampooning people. What that has meant is that his words had much more weight when he did criticize someone, because he did it so rarely. Alas, he is now in the same category of absurd muckraking as Kevin Hoover etc. I was dismayed to see Jack call Salzman a “douche” on the Arcata Eye. Lame.
Ha! Also nice to see that the Herald has some class in that my post was sent to moderation, presumably for the use of the word that Durham used. Too bad the Eye doesn’t moderate likewise, not to mention Jack Durham himself.
Perhaps I should start douche-calling my political foes so I can be like a real journalist.
The New Yorker demonstrates how it is still a home for great journalism in an article titled “What Good is Wall Street?” and subtitled “Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless”:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/29/101129fa_fact_cassidy?currentPage=all
Sundberg 5088
Cleary 4934
Sundberg wins 5th district. http://co.humboldt.ca.us/election/results/2010/2010nov-update.pdf
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=zbf7cvz30hpsa1
I love this line, O.S.:
Thanks for the link.
And then 06em awoke from the dream, muttering “What if … what if?”
More climate-change propaganda from those crazy dumb scientists. When will they learn that the bible says nothing about anthropogenic warming? I guess you’ve got to be in the Tea Party to know what’s really true.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/02/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010-hot
They probably don’t even know it’s already snowed in the midwest.
Your tax dollars at work (as I’m sure you’ll see via the American press, it just might take a few centuries):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hired-dancing-boys
I vaguely remember Doonesbury strips from just before the Nixon impeachment with Senators wishing they found Nixon with, literally, a smoking gun. Ah, those were the days.
If you want a treat, read today’s article
Tech Beat: Windows 7 is 7th heaven
written by
Chris Crawford/For the Times-Standard
It is fully-packed with unintended humor.
Rex “LNG plants are good for Eureka” Bohn has submitted his papers for Eureka City Council Ward 4. What? What?
Haven’t seen it noted anywhere so wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention. Mike Thompson voted “NO” on the tax cut bill. A principled stand is so rare these days, I hope people will thank him for his efforts.
anybody else get the latest phone poll about who should replace Jager?
This academic report on misinformation and the 2010 election is “must read” material for anyone who still thinks facts are important…
Click to access Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf
Here’s a quote from the report:
Furthermore, those who had greater exposure to news sources were generally better informed.
In the great majority of cases, those with higher levels of exposure to news sources had lower levels
of misinformation.
There were however a number of cases where greater exposure to a news source increased
misinformation on a specific issue.
Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never
watched it to believe that:
most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
the economy is getting worse (26 points)
most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)
the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)
their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)
the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)
when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)
and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)
These effects increased incrementally with increasing levels of exposure and all were statistically
significant. The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted
Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those
who did not watch it–though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.
Don’t miss Krugman’s column today on zombie economics.
link
Incredible! The best I have ever seen on the coast! Blood of the Warrior with Orion standing watch! Wow!
The Hupa Story of the Lunar Eclipse
The Moon is a man who has twenty wives and a house full of pets consisting of mountain lions, bears and snakes. To feed his pets, the man goes out to hunt. After the hunt he carries all the game back to his house for his pets, but they are not satisfied with what he has brought them. In anger, the pets attack the man, who begins to bleed. This is represented by the Moon turning a reddish color during a lunar eclipse One of the Moon’s wives is Frog and when she sees the predicament her husband is in, she rushes to help him. Frog beats away the pets. Then she and the other wives collect up the Moon’s blood and he can then recover.
The following links are to documents that people interested in the Jefferson School issue may find interesting – all on CR’s web site. Contrary to some misinformation, CR would have to spend local bond money (measure Q in Humboldt County) to purchase Jefferson School. This is being paid for through our property taxes (over the next 30 years).
This first site has pdf documents for CR’s Major Capitol projects, Deferred Maintenance, and what CR’s Program Review analyses state are needs for the college. Note there is little (or no?) mention of Jefferson school, and the program review analysis does not justify a need for purchase of a new off-campus building.
http://inside.redwoods.edu/StrategicPlanning/Facilities/supportingdocs.asp
This page gives a list of what the voters were told the local bond would pay for. This was prior to CR receiving the State Allocated funds for constructing the three new buildings on campus (the academic building is now two buildings). Note there is no mention of purchasing an off-campus site/building.
http://www.redwoods.edu/Bond/Oversight/facil.asp
Page 7 and 8 of this pdf is an accounting of both the local bond (where a Jefferson School purchase would come from) and State Allocated funds that are being used for the new on-campus buildings (these can’t be used for a Jefferson purchase).
Click to access COCpktOctober82010_000.pdf
Partricks and or Swanlunds, every fire truck in town 5th 6th and F all closed off
An eight year pastor shows why gullibility is vital to her congregation:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/dallas_pastor_accused_of_xmas_eve_robbery_i_was_trying_to_help.php
News report says Germany found illegal high level of dioxin in chicken, eggs. Pulp mills cause dioxin. Fish live in water near pulp mills. Does anybody in America test fish for dioxin?
Today at 11:11 it will be
11:11 1/11/11 quick, what is that in binary?
1111111
511
base 16? 777!!!!!!! :)
is that cool to anyone other than me?
back in your tree owl :(
That’s a lot of ones. :) A powerful day to ride the waves of what comes next.
Tom Sebourn has a new post that shows what Home Depot does when faced with a level playing field: try to seize control of the means of advertising, of course.
Karl Marx would be proud, Walton family gazillionaires.
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
link
I mean, we have to pay for those tax cuts for the rich somehow. Cutting the wages and stealing the pensions of our employees is the easiest way.
Drums of a movement Jane. You are not the only one appalled!
We’ll see, Owl. I don’t have a lot of confidence in the American people lately. Class civil war is being promoted by those with the biggest megaphones (corporations) and the media is, as usual, complicit. Suddenly all our economic problems are the fault of unions, public employee unions especially. Tax cuts, financial deregulation, unfunded wars, and offshored jobs which increased economic inequality aren’t to blame. It’s those greedy teachers, cops and firefighters, virtually all that remains of the non-management middle class, who must suffer for continuing to earn a living wage.
“Olbermann announced on the show on January 21, 2011, that it was the last edition of Countdown.”
From Wikipedia this evening, the fastest encyclopedia in the world.
After getting a HUGE propane bill (that’s how we stay warm in the sticks), I noticed the price is up 20 percent in the past year, and still rising. Has the price of natural gas gone up that much too? Oh, but there’s no inflation, so I must be off my meds again.
Here’s a link to Bob Herbert’s NY Times piece about Sargent Shriver — and about the nation we were becoming 45 years ago. I need to remind myself… this approach is still possible, despite the greed, theft, mean-spiritedness and out-and-out cruelty that has grown up since Ronald Reagan acted his way through the Presidency.
American Airlines sells your e-mail address to spammers after you book a flight. Nice. To American Airlines, if I may borrow a phrase from Plain Jane, GFY.
Mitch, you have placed the blame exactly where it belongs. When people asked me during Reagan’s presidency why he wanted to run up the national debt, I said it was to prepare the way for the eventual destruction of the New Deal, including Social Security. It makes me sick to realize so few of my felllow Americans were able to figure this out in time to stop the oligarchs from re-establishing their control over the American working class. Pardon me, the American “middle class.”
News from Uganda. First, a gay rights activist is murdered. I guess assassinated is the right word for political murders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/ugandan-gay-rights-activist-murdered
Second, from late 2009, Pepsi is embarrassed about having sponsored Beenie Man. That would be the concert about which Ugandan paper the Daily Monitor joyously reported that Beenie Man had stuck a sword of words into gay people.
http://www.dubandreggae.com/732/pepsi-denounces-beenie-man-gay-bashing-ugandaconcert.html
It is sickening to see fools blame Ronald Reagan for the national debt & deficit. Bush II doubled the national debt in eight years. obama added as much to the national debt in TWO YEARS as Bush II did in eight.
In fact, obama added more to the debt in two years than the entire history of the country did through the end of Reagan’s presidency.
test
test 2
Zach Walls Speaks about Family to Iowa State Legislature
Check out the “accrediting” group’s analysis of CR. Their main problem is the president (Mike Newman’s chamber bud) makes unilateral decisions outside of the system. The faculty and staff share some blame for not wanting to work with the guy. This may give some insight to why the CR Board of Trustees do not want to deal with Jefferson School right now.
Click to access ACCJC11-22-10followupreport.pdf
Campus Community,
After careful consultation with the campus, local health care providers and the broader community, I have decided to discontinue Humboldt State’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.
This was a difficult decision, particularly because of the impact on current pre-nursing majors and prospective students who applied to the BSN program for Fall 2011. We have begun notifying students and applicants of the decision, and advisors are available to help them explore their options. For pre-nursing majors, that may mean transferring to other programs; for students currently enrolled in the BSN program, though, we are committed to helping them graduate in a timely fashion.
We recognize the region’s need for nurses with a four-year degree. Going forward, Humboldt will work with other campuses in the California State University system and the California Community College system to provide the region with a BSN option. Details will be made available as these discussions progress.
The decision to discontinue the program is the result of a process that began last year. At that time, the University faced a severe budget reduction, and the Academic Senate recommended discontinuing the Nursing program. In making this recommendation, the Senate cited the high cost of the program, its inability to attract and retain qualified faculty and its overlap with College of the Redwoods’ two-year nursing program that trains RNs (Registered Nurses).
Rather than suspend our Nursing program last spring, we decided to grant it a temporary reprieve and invest in it. The University hired a tenured Nursing Chair/Director and approved two tenure-track positions for the Department, with the understanding that the Department would develop a plan to address critical problems. However, despite the efforts of numerous faculty and staff in the Nursing program, it has become clear that the Department is not going to be able to overcome the substantial challenges facing it.
In conversations with regional health-care providers, we heard very clearly about the importance of retaining a BSN option for the region. The health care providers also emphasized that the region’s current RN needs were being met by the ADN (Associate Degree in Nursing) program at the College of the Redwoods. A program that allowed local RNs to attain a BSN, we were told, would meet the region’s needs and reduce duplication between our program and the program at the College of the Redwoods.
After preliminary conversations with multiple other CSU campuses, we are confident that we can form a partnership with one or more other institutions to provide an ADN-to-BSN degree program that will meet the region’s needs.
Sincerely,
Signature – Rollin C. Richmond
Rollin C. Richmond
President
The following announcement is from CR’s president. This is important for the Jefferson School situation. Marsee was the biggest cheerleader for purchasing the site, and he has been “chummy” with Councilman Newman. This announcement makes a CR purchase of Jefferson extremely unlikely. Somebody better tell Ms. Brady before she brings this scenario up again.
Dear Colleagues,
Thursday morning, February 10th, San Joaquin Delta Community College District will announce that I am one of three applicants that will be advanced as a finalist for the position of President/Superintendent. I wanted you to know so that you would not be surprised by the news. It is too early in the process to discuss next steps, but I know that you will continue to stay focused on serving our students and community.
Thank you,
Jeff Marsee
Times-Standard reports new youth program to link EPD and Boy Scouts. Will provide positive role model for youth, Chief says. Will foster good lifestyle choices, ex-preacher and current EPD officer says. What is not said? Boy Scouts do not admit gays as members.
Bob Herbert and Paul Krugman of The New York Times have both seemed to split off from their colleagues over the past year, and have taken to telling it like it is, with fewer and fewer words devoted to being mealy-mouthed. Herbert in particular says what I feel. Here’s his latest:
And his summary:
“The Egyptians want to establish a viable democracy, and that’s a long, hard road. Americans are in the mind-bogglingly self-destructive process of letting a real democracy slip away.”
Yeah. It hurts to be shown up so bad by a bunch of two-dimensional cat-worshippers.
Hey. Cat-worship is a sign of refined aesthetics and intelligence. You mess with cat-worship, Walt, you’re playing with fire. ;-)
Charles Blow too, Mitch.
“. . .the consequences of the last election could well be a loss of liberty, choice, access and avenues of recourse for many. Brace yourselves. It’s on! ” So when Obush gets whupped next year, shall we gather at the Mall, rename it “Liberation Square”, and hope our army is full of cat-worshippers too?
BEWARE THE GREEN DRAGON!!!
FOX NEWS INSIDER: “Stuff Is Just Made Up”
Asked what most viewers and observers of Fox News would be surprised to learn about the controversial cable channel, a former insider from the world of Rupert Murdoch was quick with a response: “I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up.”
Indeed, a former Fox News employee who recently agreed to talk with Media Matters confirmed what critics have been saying for years about Murdoch’s cable channel. Namely, that Fox News is run as a purely partisan operation, virtually every news story is actively spun by the staff, its primary goal is to prop up Republicans and knock down Democrats, and that staffers at Fox News routinely operate without the slightest regard for fairness or fact checking.
“It is their M.O. to undermine the administration and to undermine Democrats,” says the source. “They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.”
And that’s the word from inside Fox News.
read the rest
link
Jane, Jane, Jane,
How can you believe the word of a disgruntled former employee?!
Fox News is the epitome of fairness and balance, and anyone caught spinning an issue would be immediately dismissed. After all, Mr. Murdoch has his reputation to uphold.
(Just trying to see whether I could say all that without getting immediately hit by lightning. I could. I guess that explains a lot.)
But how’s your tummy, Mitch? The sad thing is that the FAITHFUL will never believe they’re being lied to and controlled. The scary thing is not that Fox sells mind control, but the fact that people buy it.
Walt, they really do, I have been surprised by some of the folks who have been “hypnotized” into believing untruths and the most difficult part is that they have enough “talking points” to back up their position that not only have they convinced themselves they are right, but you can not even have an intelligent conversation with them. A mass media dose of “puppet pills” and they eat them up.
It is valentines day, hug a conservative, let them know you love them anyway. If they can be hypnotized by a fake sense of belonging (and that is what it really is, a phony threat, fear, and a communal sense of “we will beat this thing together’ they get a sense of belonging, of community, right through their TV, no real human contact, then they have a rally or 4th of July booth or a spaghetti feed and they come together and all have the same talking points “presto” community. We are their community, we are neighbors, friends, schoolmates, they are salvageable, hug a conservative today and let them know you love them.
Go for it Jane (you can go home and shower :)
OK. What does this say for democracy in America?
Democracy requires informed participation, not just a willingness on the part of some to fill out a ballot during a TV commercial. If those who actually vote are this uninformed or have been this hoodwinked, can we really be considered a democracy?
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/poll-most-republicans-think-obama-wasnt-born-in-us.php
As hard as it probably is to believe, Owl, I have many family members and friends who are conservative, most of the Eisenhower to Buckley variety but a few Fox cultists as well. We can’t talk politics; but it’s a case of love the sinner, hate the sin. What else can you do?
Propaganda is hard to combat, Mitch. Today more so than ever with so many “news” organizations, TV and internet) that aren’t, 24/7 spew on radio and TV. If you haven’t seen Orwell Rolls In His Grave, it is well worth the time.
link
Robert Reich has an interesting progressive taxation plan to fix the economy.
link
Check out this article and the North Coast Journal bashing.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110216/A_NEWS/102160321&cid=sitesearch
Mitch, there were no laser printers in the year of our President’s birth. Yet the document that is being offered as proof of his birth in Hawaii is a laser-printed document. Mr. Obama could have put all the birthers to shame long ago simply by providing a copy of his original birth certificate. The fact that he has not done so raises suspicions in the minds of many Americans that our President is hiding something about his birth. Maybe it is not, after all, the country of his birth. Maybe his parents were not married. That might be a little embarrassing for the Obama family, but it certainly would not be the first time Americans have put a bastard in the White House.
4:29, go ask for your original birth certificate and see what they give you. Original birth certificates are the property of the state and all, not just Obama’s, are specially protected documents. They give you a copy (using whatever printing device the office has at the time of request), certify it as an accurate copy, emboss it with their stamp and it is, by law, as good as an “original” birth certificate because no one even has access to their original birth certificate. Not you, not me, not Obama. That this has to be explained to you is very sad, but indicative of how easy it is to dupe some people, especially the ones who want to be duped.
When I asked for a certified copy of my birth certificate, Jane, I got a photocopy of the original, not a laser-printed fake. I wasn’t born yesterday. You can’t fool me. Obama IS hiding something.
Heraldo, Quick Notes has slowed to a snails’s pace. Maybe it is time to archive this edition and begin a new one. I’ll bet when you do that, I won’t have to wait several minutes to scroll down to the bottom of the page. Thanks for considering this suggestion. You know I do it because I love you!
Here you go.
You found the smoking gun, birther. Send all your money to Taitz to help her unseat the illegitimate president, she’s going to need it.
Thanks for the info. My friend went to a pawn shop in broadview and got really good deals. Of course he did. It’s a pawn shop. The whole thing is good deals.